Christmas pictures, part 3

We spent Christmas Eve morning at home before heading off to Grandma and Grandpa R's. Santa brought Ryan a wooden train set, some books and puzzles, blocks, a truck, "Kick Panda" pajamas, and a Thomas "place setting." (About half of the lights on our pre-lit tree -- the first and last we'll ever buy -- had burned out since last year, and it took so long to fix the lights that we never got around to hanging the ornaments.)





Christmas day at Grandma and Grandpa's:

Yet another visit from Santa!



More trains! (Ryan wanted to open presents wearing just his diaper. We compromised on a onesie.)




Ryan the picky eater refused to try the pork tenderloin or sweet potato casserole that Grandma made, and insisted on saltines and water for Christmas dinner. Grandpa said even prisoners eat better than that these days. Ryan never turns down Grandma's toffee-like "Christmas bark," however.




On Christmas night, we went on our traditional, and always entertaining, "tacky lights tour." This Peanuts nativity scene including Woodstock in the manger has to be one of the most spectacularly tasteless displays we have witnessed in over a decade of annual tours.



We also saw some beautiful sights, like this tree which appeared to be lit with tens of thousands of lights:



After 3 visits from Santa in less than a week, we hoped Ryan wouldn't be disppointed when there were no new presents under the tree when he woke up the next morning.



The day after Christmas, Ryan's cousins joined us, and we all went to a gigantic model train display. Ryan was afraid of the fast-moving trains at first and wore a serious expression the whole time, but as soon as we finished the tour and exited, he wanted "more train," complete with the hand sign for "more." (Train is currently pronounced like a cross between "cane" and "gain.")




Ryan was thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa gave his cousin Dylan a basketball set that he could play with too.




Unfortunately, the only time we're able to get the 3 boys to pose for a picture is when they're lined up on the couch watching a Thomas video. (Ryan is hoping for one of those awesome Star Wars outfits as a hand-me-down. Rob is disappointed that they don't come in his size.)



The boys hovering around Rob:



Ryan and Grandma:



On the way home, we (Rob, Ryan, Teddy, and I) stopped at a Cabela's to show Ryan the fish tanks and animal displays. However, he was most enthralled with seeing a pacifier floating in the black bear's pond (another toddler had just tossed it in -- Ryan would not have been laughing if it were his own), and the pizza he had there for lunch.