This Christmas fell on Mattimeo's sixteenth month outside of the womb; a month of tremendous physical growth and extra snuggle sessions. This Christmas was especially magical because it was our first Christmas in our new home and because we were able to spend the holiday with the family and friends that we love.
A couple days before Christmas, Meo was very busy creating Christmas artwork for his family.
On Christmas Eve, we went to my Dad's house to have the Rocray Christmas gathering. My Pepere, Aunt Dianne, Uncle Ken, cousins Kenny, Heather, and Joey and his family were all there as well as my own siblings. We had a lot of fun sharing food and playing "Apples to Apples" together. Heather lives in Florida, so this was the first time she got to meet Meo.
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| Dad and Sue |
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| Meo and my dad |
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| Pepere likes feeding his Meo |
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| Pepere likes feeding his Meo |
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| Robbie and Sam |
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| Heather, Kenny, Robbie and Meo |
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| Brian and Meo |
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| Playing ball with Pepere |
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| My dad and Pepere |
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| Sam |
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| Having fun with Auntie Sam |
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| Having fun with Auntie Sam |
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| Having fun with Auntie Sam |
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| Pepere, Caden and Uncle Ken |
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| Joe, Caden and Angie |
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| Heather and Meo |
I just love this series of photos of Heather, Meo and Harley:
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| Such longing in Harley's eyes |
Once Mattimeo started getting very sleeping, we left my parents house to go home and sleep. Meo went right to sleep, but Robbie and I stayed up to watch a Christmas episode of "Dr. Who", the show we are really into watching right now.
On Christmas morning, all three of us woke up excited and happy. It was snowing outside! We were going to have a white Christmas after all!
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| Merry Christmas sweet Meo! |
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| Looking at the snow! |
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| Good morning snuggles for Daddy |
The three of us ran down stairs and opened our stockings.
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| Meo got a boat in his stocking |
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| Meo with his stocking gifts |
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| Helping Daddy open his gift |
Pi and Theta got to open their stockings too, and they really liked the toys they got. Meo even gave them some treats afterwards, which they were especially happy about.
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| Theta pawing at the bird in his stocking |
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| attack! |
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| Pi sniffing the mouse in his stocking |
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| Pi hugs |
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| Pi playing with his new toy |
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| Theta |
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| Content boys |
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| Treats for the kitties |
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| Treats for the kitties |
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| Treats for the kitties |
At this point, Mommy was VERY hungry, and Mattimeo was signing "more" like a mad man so we decided to pause and have some breakfast. Meo played with his new animal magnets while mommy made apple, raisin and cinnamon oatmeal from scratch. This is one of Meo's favorite breakfasts, and he especially likes it when I mix in a little plain yogurt.
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| Appetizer for a very hungry boy |
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| Oatmeal on Christmas morning |
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| Oatmeal on Christmas morning |
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| Oatmeal on Christmas morning |
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| Such bed head! |
Then we opened our big presents. Robbie and I really needed new hiking/walking shoes since ours both had holes in them, so that's what we ended up giving each other. For Mattimeo, we made him a train table based around the map found in Redwall novels (where his name comes from). Meo is obsessed about train tables whenever we go to the museum or toy stores, so we were very excited to give him this gift that we had worked so hard on. He absolutely loved it, which made our hearts spill with joy! He now plays with his train table several times a day, and I can't see him getting sick of it anytime soon.
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| Meo coming in to see his train table for the first time |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Big thank you kiss for Mama! |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
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| Meo playing with his new train set |
After we got dressed, we bundled up to head out into the snow and go to my parents house. Sweet Meo fell asleep on the way over; he had a very exciting morning!
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| Bundled up in the snow |
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| Our new home Christmas morning in the fresh snow |
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| napping on the way to Memere and Pepere's house |
At my parents house, we were joined by my sister, brother and nephew Bryce. Each year, my parents always give us big backs full of yummy treats and essentials that really help us throughout the year. This year, Bryce and Meo had fun helping us to empty the bags. Bryce was especially funny when he started taking things out of Brian and Sam's bags and bringing them over the Meo and I!
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| Bryce loves his pudding! |
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| Bryce kept getting in the way of our pictures hehe |
Then we paused for my very FAVORITE meal of the whole year, Christmas brunch! Every year, Sue makes the most amazing spread of fruit salad, cheese, crackers (meat for the omnivores), cinnamon buns, pumpkin bread, and delicious quiches. I look forward to this meal every year, and always eat entirely too much. This year I shared my meal with sweet Meo, and I could not believe how much food he stuffed into his little body. I have NEVER seen him eat so much! He loved it! He must have the same taste in foods as his mommy!
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| waiting for breakfast |
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| Christmas brunch |
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| Brian and I feeding our boys |
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| Brian and I feeding our boys |
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| Meo snatched my entire cinnamon roll! |
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| Meo snatched my entire cinnamon roll! |
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| craziness |
Then we exchanged gifts and visited more. I can't really express how grateful we are for all the amazing gifts we received from all of our family members. We are truly spoiled and oh so happy. Thank you so much!
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| Brian, Sam and Bryce |
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| Brian, Sam and Bryce |
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| Bryce bringing his present to Meo |
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| Meo opening his present from Bryce |
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| Excited Meo |
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| Puzzles! |
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| Bryce opening our present to him |
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| Bryce opening our present to him (a farm alphabet book by one of my favorite Maine artists) |
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| Meo really liked Bryce's present |
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| Meo really liked Bryce's present |
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| Bryce opening his present from us (a farm animal train set) |
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| Bryce opening his present from us (a farm animal train set) |
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| Bryce opening his present from us (a farm animal train set) |
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| I love how excited he is |
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| Meo stole Bryce's present |
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| Meo stole Bryce's present |
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| Meo stole Bryce's present |
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| Meo was pretty tired and overwhelmed much of the gift opening time so we nursed |
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| Robbie in his glory with all sorts of awesome board games |
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| Robbie in his glory with all sorts of awesome board games |
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| Wearing some tissue paper |
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| Our gift to Sam (a rice cooker) |
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| Sam painted this for us |
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| Robbie in his glory with all sorts of awesome board games |
After visiting my parents, our day was still not over! Next we headed over to the Robinson household to visit with Robbie's parents and sister. Mattimeo took a second, really long nap in the car, so I hung out with him for a while before he woke up and we made our way inside. Robbie's dad made some delicious quiches and butternut squash for our dinner.
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| Hugs for Grandpa |
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| Pesky Meo running away from a hug! |
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| Playing with Auntie Jess |
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| Playing cars with Daddy |
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| Robinson family |
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| Dinner! |
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| saying hello to Grandma |
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| saying hello to Grandma |
After dinner, we exchanged many more wonderful gifts.
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| This is a very tired Meo |
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| Opening a gift for a tired baby |
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| New martini glasses we got Robbie's parents |
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| Our gifts to Robbie's parents |
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| Meo looking at a picture of himself |
We didn't get to stay and visit long after we opened gifts because Mattimeo was extremely tired and cranky. As much as Meo loves seeing all his family and loves eating and opening/playing with gifts, I think the whole day ends up be a bit overwhelming for him and he had a hard time feeling content most of the day. He did a really great job though considering how overwhelming it probably was for him. That being said, I was very happy that Jess was able to come home with us and spend the night at our house so we could get Meo to bed and still visit her. Since she lives in Boston and has been very busy working on the set of "The Urban Nutcracker" as well as her regular job, she hadn't made it over to see our new house. We had fun playing games and catching up with her. Even Pi was excited to see her and gave her lots of "Pi hugs".
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| The crazy cards in the game "Timeline" Robbie got for Christmas |
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| Robinson siblings |
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| Pi hugs :) |
Whew! I am just realizing that this is already a really long post, and I still have two more Christmas gatherings to write about! I think that I am going to save those for another post...
Thank you again to all of our family for such a wonderful Christmas. We love you all so much, and wish we had more time in the day to spend with each of you. We are grateful for the time we did get to spend with you however; we have such an amazing family!
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