Christmas at Home 2008

Santa was good to us this year.

Lonya got a scooter from Santa and a first computer from Grandma. Sergey got a Hannah Montana guitar and a Leapster from Santa (he was insistent about the guitar). And the boys got plenty of other games and toys and books from Mamas, Grandma, and aunts and uncles. Here you can see Lonya with the remote for his train set and Sergey showing us his best rock star form.

And with it all, we kept trying to bring them back to the real meaning of Christmas. Sue and I got our best presents ever on Christmas 2005.

Chicago pre-Christmas

The boys and Candace visited Grandma and Uncle Jeff in Chicago before Christmas. Their house was decorated beautifully, as always. Michigan avenue and the whole Streeterville neighborhood were decked out with lights too.

The boys got some early Christmas presents under the tree, including two doctor kits. They proceeded to subject Grandma to rigorous medical evaluations, including the need for shots.

It was a lovely time, with ice skating at Navy Pier, seeing Santa at Marshall Fields, eating lunch in the Walnut room (as we always did when I was little), admiring the shop windows, going to an afternoon movie matinee, and lots of running around at Grandma's.

Alas, our visit extended a bit when a huge snowstorm in Seattle cancelled our flights two days in a row. After extra time at Grandma's and then hours and hours in O'Hare airport going from gate to gate flying standby, we did finally make it back home for Christmas. The boys were total troopers. I couldn't have asked for better behavior for the long hours spent at the airport.

School photos

Here are the school photos of my handsome boys. You can see that Lonya has lost some baby teeth because he is such a Big Boy. He is in first grade and Sergey is in preschool.