Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve is a great time for a party and we had a good one. My parents came in from NYC, Stewart grilled excellent steaks, provided excellent wine and my mother gave us tasty cheese. However we much we may have enjoyed ourselves, clearly our party was nothing compared to the party the cats had after we went to bed. Once the kids were down for the night, we organized all the gifts and put them under the tree. Included in the pile was a gift to our cats, Oscar and Pumpkin, thoughtfully sent by Aunt Patty's cats Callie and Tiger. We awoke Christmas morning to discover that our cats had opened their gift early. It turns out that Callie and Tiger had sent a package of catnip toys. By the time we saw the toys, they had been chewed and sucked on. One of them had been opened at one end and the contents strewn around the living room. The cats were flopped on the futon in a state of dazed contentment. Callie and Tiger apparently know how to get their paws on the good stuff.  We are grateful that Oscar and Pumpkin confined their attentions to their gift only and left everything else in pristine condition.

We started our morning with traditional cinnamon rolls before opening a few gifts and heading off to San Francisco to have a yummy Christmas brunch at John and Robin's.  It was nice to see Robin's parents and to have a relatively large collection of immediate family together for a meal.   John took a photo of almost everyone around the table (Matthew was taking a break with the portable DVD player and Cinza was in the study avoiding temptation (and being considerate of Matthew who doesn't do so well with doggy faces that are at the same level as his)).

Matthew proved a stellar helper with Christmas gifts. He was happy to bring them to the intended recipient and help open them. You can see him below, dressed in an outfit carefully selected by his Grandmere, working with his Grandpa to get the job done. He provided a full service experience and it was a lot of fun for him. Owen, sensing the excitement of the season, had started the day early, limited himself to a very short nap in the morning and consequently missed present opening. He was snoozing in a carefully prepared drawer in the guest room and awoke full of indignation at being left out and finding himself in somewhat less plush accommodations than he is accustomed to. We all had a wonderful time. Thank you John and Robin for being such excellent hosts!

Here is a photo of Owen in his new blue fuzzy jacket - a Christmas gift from Kat. You can see from the photo that if you add ears to an article of clothing and put it on a baby, you get overwhelming cuteness.

As usual, there are ambitious and life altering plans for 2010. No, not another baby, just buying a house. From what I hear that experience can take almost as much effort as a new baby.  Intense athletic events are back on the map this year. Stewart nobly took a year off so he could be more available to help with the kids.  He is returning to the world of competitive racing by training for the Chicago Marathon. We are making it a family event with Brian, Jamie and yours truly planning to enter as well. Of course there will be plenty of drama - Will everyone finish? Will Stewart and Brian qualify for the Boston Marathon? Will it be harder to run the race or watch all five cousins in a hotel room? My question is how many of us will be wearing the Vibram 5-fingers? Regardless of the outcome, Team Ellis plans to leave it all out on the road.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!