Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 Merry Christmas from Tenny and Tait

We had a wonderful, relaxing holiday season with Grandma Stewart.  One of the reasons Christmas was so great this year is that Tennyson was super cute for a month leading up to the big day, and then was bursting with excitement the entire Christmas day.  It made Christmas so much fun for the rest of us.

Tenny's Letter and Cookies for Santa

And, since the boys were so good this year, Santa kept his part of the bargain.  (And thanks to the grandparents, family, and friends who hooked up our boys!)

We ate an enormous amount of good food, and Tennyson won the wishbone breaking ceremony (so now he gets to fly to the moon on "the biggest dipper in the whole world").

Wishboning

And then we visited lots of fun sites, including:

(1) Holiday sites in DC, like the Capitol Christmas Tree

(where we tried to reenact the giant tree, but couldn't quite place baby Tait as the angel on top);

(2) Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key penned the Star Spangled Banner (and since he was a lawyer, we're guessing he billed the U.S. by the hour for his work);

and (3) Philadelphia, where we toured Congress Hall to see where the U.S. Congress met in the late 1700s, as well as Independence Hall to see where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were drafted.

Senate Room in Congress Hall

Independence Hall

Tennyson took advantage of the big snowstorm in Philly to make his first one-foot-tall snowman this winter.  (And yes, that smile is photo-shopped onto Frosty, because Tennyson was very upset when he saw the picture and realized he had forgot to make a mouth.)

As for resolutions:  In 2010, we resolved to dance more.  We actually did quite well -- Tennyson took ballet lessons, and we generally tried to dance whenever the music prompted.  Our favorite dance of the year, though, was next to the parked car on an off-ramp near Parowan, Utah, where we danced to Jeremy's serenade while the sun set and the kids slept in the back seat.  In 2011, we resolve to: (1) improve our living conditions (i.e., finally decide the question we've been debating for years of whether we should buy a home, rent a new apartment, or improve our current apartment - suggestions welcome); and (2) learn how to make good portrait photographs.

Happy 2011 to all our friends and family!