Lots of pictures follow from our recent Christmas gatherings. The Tennessee contingent arrived the day before Christmas. Maia is almost one year old already! She liked the tree and all the colorful gifts.
We have had an old electronic keyboard that Jessica and Travis used to play and play with. It now belongs to Maia, who is trying it out here.
On Christmas morning, Maia posed with her mother for me. She has become very aware of cameras and likes to ham it up a bit.
Here she is with the beautiful Christmas stocking that her Grandma Kathie made for her. These toy jacks can be snapped together in a variety of ways. Soon, Maia was making helical DNA models for us.
Mike and Jess found new T-shirts in their stockings. Jessica's was one we discovered during our recent visit to the Cedar Ridge Winery—the comment about shoes works well for her. We made the one for Mike, which features his cute little girl.
Maia quickly learned about gift opening. This package contained her new all-in-one kitchen, featuring a talking refrigerator, stove, and other appliances.
Meanwhile, Great Grandma opened one of her gifts.
Maia's new dolly, which Great Grandma Novy gave her, received its first kiss.
We invited our neighbor, Portia, to join us for Christmas dinner. Afterwards, the ladies played some cards, and Portia won!
Jess, Mike and Maia went for an afternoon walk. (What is it with this strange, warm weather we are having? I'm ready for some cold and snow!)
The morning after Christmas, we all met Rob's family at Amana for breakfast (never enough food at this time of year!). Penny and Maia got to know each other and spent some time comparing nooks.
After the Tennessee contingent left on Tuesday morning, the Minneapolis group arrived. After some lunch (leftovers), Anders and Grandma Kathie played "Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."
Anders also likes to play "Angry Birds" on my iPad.
The next day, all of the Minneapolis, Northbrook and Iowa City families joined us for the day. This included lots of time with the electric trains, which, as you will recall, were requested by Henry and the others. All of the grandkids made some cute little buildings of paper to add to the layouts. Here are Anders and Eleanor at the controls of the bigger Lionel set. Eleanor thought the engine made too much noise.
Below is another perspective on the Lionel set, which features both a Harry Potter Hogwarts Express passenger set and a Canadian Pacific freight set.
The HO layout has two independent loops, a wye, and a number of sidings that allow different engines to operate. I have four different engines: two Alaska diesels, a Santa Fe Diesel, and an older steam engine and tender. There are also four Holland America McKinley Explorer passenger cars, an Alaska caboose, and a set of freight cars of various kinds.
Betsy, who is a big Harry Potter fan, especially liked the Hogwarts Express train.
Before dinner, there was the usual round of gifts to open.
Two of my darling granddaughters posed for me at the front window with some of their gifts.
Henry and Anders played some ball outdoors.
Clara loves to hold Penny.
Rob helped the kids build a cabin from our set of Lincoln Logs.
Then it was time to eat again.
Josey was quite tolerant of Clara's attentions and petting.
Penny and her dad enjoyed one of the afternoon football games.
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