Holiday wrap-up, Part I

Although the last couple of months have been busy, Elliott and his family did find some time to party.  Elliott has enjoyed his first holiday season, and he managed to only gain 2 pounds!  

Not long after the excitement of Halloween wore off, we were lucky enough to celebrate Fauxgiving.  Nope, I didn't accidentally misspell Thanksgiving.  Fauxgiving is a gathering established by a group of our friends that involves renting a house together near Seattle for the weekend before Thanksgiving.  You know that tradition on Thanksgiving where people go around the table and say what they're thankful for?  Well, at Fauxgiving we just go around the table and say how delicious the food is.  No words of thanks are required.  We just eat, and eat, and eat.  

 

Fortunately, most components of the Thanksgiving feast are the perfect consistency for babies, so Elliott was able to enjoy his first meal.

Elliott scarfing Daddy's rolls:

I'm not actually shoving the roll in his mouth, but rather trying to prevent him from doing so:

Elliott and his friend Lisa.  They were both amazed by how much he can eat:

Elliott and Fiona:  Fiona looks adorable, but Elliott...not so much.
Perhaps he is experiencing his first food coma?

First SNOW!!!

After Fauxgiving, Elliott was bummed that he had to wait 3 more weeks for another party (mostly, he wanted more food). But it was worth it. In early December we traveled to Idaho to have a pre-Christmas celebration with my (Summer's) family.  Fortunately, road trips with Elliott have improved, and he does a lot more of this than he used to:

Here is Elliott dressed for the party:

This photo is here just because the expression makes me laugh:

Elliott was excited to see so many of his cousins there.
Cousin Kole:

 

Cousin Kori:

Cousin Levi:

Cousin Shayde in the cool R2D2 hat Grandma Carren made:

Cousin Dana giving Elliott some attention:

Grandpa Buddy made these awesome Gingerbread houses for all the kids to decorate:

The Decorating Squad:

 

Cousin Paige's Job:

Finished products:

At first, Elliott was disappointed that he couldn't take part in the good times (the eating of the candy and frosting, not the decorating part).  But then he found this gold ball to chew on. Problem solved. 

Before we went to Idaho, I told Elliott the story behind Christmas.  He was both excited and confused, responding, "what, I get presents from a fat guy in a red suit because a baby was born!?!?!?" 

 

Obviously, he doesn't quite understand.  I'll try to explain again next year, but for now I focused on the part of the story where good behavior (read: sleeping at night) = presents.  He responded with this expression:

He continued to be confused when meeting Santa in person:

 

Even when Santa gave him a present (toy monkey!), he was unmoved:

 In fact, highly suspicious, he tried to unmask the old man:

"pvwpwvpvw, there is no way that dude fits down a chimney Mom":

  

Before heading back to Seattle, Grandma Carren, AKA the Crochet Master, gave him his Christmas presents:

 

 

Coming soon, "Holiday wrap up, Part II: the midwest in me"