Christmas Cuteness

Nick's second Christmas was hectic but fun. After stopping to visit our friends Jody and Rob and meet five-day-old Mason (who's quite the charmer already) in the city on Christmas Eve, we picked up Aunt Bridget and Anthony and headed upstate to Grammer's house in Cornwall. Following the children's mass at St. Mary's in Marlboro (during which Nick learned a new word -- "Amen!" -- and proceeded to repeat it with gusto throughout the homily), we hightailed it over to Aunt Bridget's and Uncle Pete's house for dinner (fondue ... yum!).

On Christmas morning, after we opened Nick's 92 gifts (we might have to find a bigger apartment to house all his loot...) while he tried to pull all the handmade ornaments off the tree, Grammer fixed us her traditional tasty breakfast casserole.
Then we headed to Aunt Jeannie's and Uncle Ziggy's in Goshen to celebrate with extended family and eat some more. In keeping with Moore family tradition I "slivered" all day long, which according to legend (but not, unfortunately, the scale) means the calories count less. The diet starts tomorrow.

Nick had a grand time playing with the posse of little people in the house -- second cousins Joseph (17 months), Clare (3) and Sarah (14 months), and family friend Matthew (2). We recreated the traditional "cousins on the stairs" photo (right) of years past, this time with the small fries. Cousin Kathy (center, holding Sarah) had flown up two days earlier directly from her Coast Guard reserve duty in New Orleans and reunited with her kiddos and husband Jim (who had driven up with the girls from North Carolina) for the first time in weeks.

Santa was good to us all. As you can see, Aunt Bridge's drum was a big hit with the Nickster, who picked up some tips from Anthony, the pro. Despite the fact neither Rob nor I have any apparent musical abilities (other than our ecclectic taste in it), Nick seems to have some rhythm (maybe he got some of Aunt Bridge's euphonius expertise?).

Time to go play with our new toys!