Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas on Long Island this year. It was hectic, as usual when we want to run around and see as many friends and family as possible, but we had a great time. We started out at Andy's Dad's place on a rainy Christmas Eve. Aiden got a kick out of some of the antique toys that Andy's Dad has at his place, like a full sized merry-go-round horse, and this little contraption below where you feed coins to a dog who jumps through a hoop to deliver the coin into a slot.

Working out the mechanics...

I just figured it out!

Despite the rain we went for a little walk outside to see the bay.

Then it was off to Dan & Paulette's new house, which is only 2 blocks away from Andy's Dad's house. They are enjoying the extra space, and Paulette cooked us a yummy chicken dinner before we headed over to my Uncle Brandt's for our final Christmas Eve stop (more about that in another post). Aiden got his dose of tickle torture from CRAZY Uncle Dan. It's really funny now that Aiden even calls him "Crazy Dan!"

Someone found a belly...

GOT you!

Paulette with little Munson

Although he doesn't like me (or Chris) much, Munson was really pretty good with Aiden.

On Christmas morning Aiden opened the presents that Santa had left him under the tree. He was very happy to get a tool set and a Wall-E robot! Thenwe headed up to Nanuet, NY to Uncle Kenny's house for the annual Christmas feast. We stopped and picked up Great Grandma Kulis on the way there and Aiden liked her place very much (lots of elevators and fun hallways to walk down).

Kenny and Jeanie fried a turkey (without burning the house down). It was moist and delicious! Here is the syringe that they used to inject the bird with "butter steroids" or something.

The injection!

Talking and eating appetizers


Aunt Mary and Mause, Kenny's dog

Lithuanian Black Bread (left), Kielbasi & Saurkraut (right)

Aiden with Wall-E

Jeannie reading Aiden one of the many books he got for xmas

Aiden got a whole train set from Uncle Charlie & Aunt Monica

Uncle Charlie showing Aiden some simple tunes.

It is a Kulis Family tradition to sing Christmas songs after xmas dinner, and this year was no exception. I had prepped Aiden to sing "two turtledoves" during the 12 Days of Christmas, which he did (shyly). Once he got into it though, he was dancing around and singing to Rudolph and Frosty and the rest of them. He was even throwing out his own requests (Old MacDonald, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, Mary had a Little Lamb) for Uncle Charlie to figure out how to improvise on the spot. We gave up trying to sing "There Was and Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly" ---just doesn't work that well on the piano!

Aiden getting down to some xmas tunes

Jeannie and Chris

Allison and Great Grandma Kulis

Hannah, Jeannie and Allison

Shots of "Dragon's Breath" from Australia. Butterscotch schnapps, chilis, and rosemary. Sounds disgusting but it was not bad.

Aiden and Dadoo

Jeannie and her "lumpy" or "lump-a-doo"

Hannah and Jeannie

It was quite warm for the few days after Christmas so we took a walk to the beach (park at the end of Andy's mom's street that is on Great South Bay). Aiden had lots of fun throwing handfulls of sand and clam shells into the bay. He was not happy to leave when we had to go.

Walking to the beach

The beach

Yeah, handfulls of sand!

And finally, here is a parting shot of the little man. This is one for the blackmail files when he's a teenager :)