Hammond's Candy Factory

We had a fun family outing to tour Hammond's Candy Factory over Christmas.  It was cool to see how they stretch the candy to make their huge candy canes and ribbon candy (apparently it's pretty famous).  Their gift shop was the highlight of the tour with tons of yummy treats to take home.  The boys enjoyed getting free broken candy canes at the end of the tour...they're not picky!

This was eventually going to be sour grape candy canes. 

This was the chocolate wrapping conveyor belt--just like the one Lucy & Ethel used on that hilarious episode of I Love Lucy!

Family Christmas Dinner

We had our big family celebration on the 26th...Grampy drove into town and the Hutches came over that afternoon.  Mimi and Sean fixed a wonderful meal while I got a few hours of sleep after working a horrendous Christmas night at work.  (Seriously, none of our patients got the memo this year that it was Christmas and we are supposed to be slow for the holidays.  All of us had gotten free dinner from the hospital that night at 1900 and literally didn't get a chance to sit down to eat it until about 0200...by that time it had all gone bad and we threw everything away.  That pretty much sums up our night!)  Anyway, I digress.  

Mimi brought a fun party game about Christmas movie trivia that included a prize...movie tickets went to the winning team of Tay Tay & Aunt Debbie!  (Let me just say that Scot & I took second place, with him getting only ONE of our 25 answers.)

 Davis being silly with Grampy stuck outside in the cold.

 Tyler & Kelsie Rae, just back from their semester in Dublin!

 Mom and me

 Sisters!

 Cousins (+ Tyler)

 The boys getting ready to pounce on an unsuspecting Grampy!

 These boys sure missed their Rae Rae!

 Our first-annual White Elephant gift exchange.  Tyler got a fake burrito, Chipotle gift card & 

a reindeer that poops candy.  It was a big hit!

 Sean opening his gift.  Notice that Deb kind of hid her gift (Starbucks gift card) so people would 

forget & not steal it.  Nice strategy, Deb!

Tyler "loading" his reindeer.  He didn't waste any time getting that thing ready.

Mimi, Grampy and One Cool Train

We loved having Mimi & Grampy in town for Christmas...the fact that they gave the boys a remote- controlled Santa train was just a bonus!    

 How fast can you put this together, Daddy?

 Carter put himself in charge of the remote & Davis drowned his disappointment in some chocolate (as evidenced by his face)...

Christmas Morning

Unfortunately, I was working again all through Christmas so we didn't get to celebrate the way I would have liked, but at least nobody was sick this year!  Mimi flew into town on Christmas Eve & we opened presents Christmas morning after Mommy got home from work.  The boys were very spoiled this year--THANK YOU so much to our Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles for the very cool Christmas gifts!  You all were so generous...our boys are pretty lucky!  We were very happy to have Mimi & Grampy in town to help us celebrate this year. We hope your Christmas was Merry & Bright, too!

Daddy had fun helping Carter & Davis put together their Ride Makerz Cars 2 vehicles.  

That gift was a win-win for big AND little boys.  :-)

Buzz Lightyear Mr. Potato Head

Lots of boy loot!  Not a single ounce of pink in this house (except maybe Mommy's closet).

Rock & Roll Elmo!

Check out Elmo, Mimi!

Carter & Daddy with the much sought-after Leap Pad. This was the "Cabbage Patch Kid of 2011"; if you're old enough to have lived through the CPK craze of the early '80s, you know what I'm talking about!

Snow!

We got about a foot of snow right before Christmas and the boys couldn't wait to get outside to play in it.  It was beautiful and always so nice to have a White Christmas!  Guess it's time to buy a sled...

 Daddy really wanted to make a snowman with the boys, but the snow didn't really cooperate.  All we got was a snow body with no head.  

Blossoms of Light

We decided to mix things up this year & see the Botanic Gardens' lights, instead of Zoo Lights again.  The display was awesome--tons to see and a winding path that ended with a light display set to Christmas music.  The boys got 3-D glasses that projected shapes on the points of light as we walked through the display...  that was the best $1.50 ever spent!

 The Hutches taking turns pulling the boys.

 Carter was obsessed with having the glasses on at all times.

 Aunt Debbie, Mimi & the boys

Afterwards, we drove past all of my old apartments downtown and then past the City & County Building that is always decked out beautifully for Christmas.  It was a great trip down memory lane for me to see the old 'hoods, as Mom & I remembered how fun it had been to decorate all those old places with tons of character.  How times have changed!!