Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas photos


We are blessed to be able to spend Christmas this year with Grandpa L, Derick's dad. To share with relatives across the country, here's some photos from our holiday:

We've drunk a lot of cocoa and tea this weekend. It hasn't been too cold, but it's been nice to play outside and warm up with cocoa and marshmallows. Here's Grandpa with the boys and their friend. (Check out the iPad, which Derick uses for recipes in the kitchen. He's so 21st century. If you look in its screen, you can see me taking the picture.)

Derick's cousin and his family came to spend the holiday with her family. Here the boys spend time with their second cousin, like they've been best friends for years. They really hit it off.
(BTW, you can tell one of these three doesn't live in Minnesota!)

Larson males hit the mall: We went to the Mall of America Christmas Eve. TOTALLY my husband's idea. No one believes me when I say it's empty in the morning, so here's proof.

The new Lego store is open. Grandpa took the boys to do their Christmas shopping. Rowan was spastic. He could not decide. He finally found something on this wall.

We followed the Mall with an outing to our favorite restaurant, Three Squares. This photo gives a little physical proof that this has been the snowiest December in Minnesota history: notice how the snow gets to at least their knees. These guys are both around 6'4".

The boys Christmas Eve transfixed by Norad Santa. I think he was in Argentina by the time they went to bed.

We went for our traditional Christmas sled at Elm Creek this year. Here's Derick and I, me with my new scarf. Thanks, honey. (You can see me taking my own picture if you look in my sunglasses.

Grandpa didn't sled, but he watched out for safety at the bottom of the hill. I took a picture of him (at his request) in front of a very funny sign:

See, the sledding hill is above the beach area, which is drained in the fall and laid open for sledding when snow comes. Thank GOODNESS the beach was closed today, because it was NOT bathing suit weather!




Sledding. Whoppee!

The Larson males at the end of our driveway, demonstrating how high the drifts are. Again, these grown-ups are at least 6'4". Rowan is at the top of the drift, and he towers over them. And we're supposed to get more snow before the new year rolls in.

At least more shoveling will allow me to work off more pie.

Here's to good Christmas memories.

4 comments:

Melinda said...

Fantastic! What a great time Grandpa is having. So glad you guys got him out there. Mel

Loch Ness Shores said...

Thought you might want to know that in other parts of the world the word spastic is a highly offensive term to describe someone who has or appears to have cerebral palsy. I understand this is not the case in the US.

Jennifer Larson said...

Thanks, Sian. That definition applies in the US, too, but it's not the primary one. The primary definition--characterized by spasms, or involuntary muscle movements--is the one I was using with my son, not making fun of any disorder. Picture a boy whose eyes keep darting around the store. That's the word I was using. It fits, description wise without any other connotations.

Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and yours.

alexandra s.m. said...

Thanks for sharing Jennifer, I always love to come and visit you ;-)
( to answer your question about the snowflake stamp, it is a Hero Arts background stamp used with white ink and opaque white embossing powder. Here is a better view of it:http://artscrapandmore.blogspot.com/2010/12/mini-advent-collages-tags-day123.html)

Thank you for your interest and sweet comments Jenny.

hugs ~