The Pelhanks: January 2011

We got our second real snow of this winter this past week and boy was it a doozie! We supposedly received 9-inches, which for St. Louis, is A LOT! Mandy had some work drama as she was supposed to work at 5 am that morning, with already about 7-8 inches on the ground from the overnight snow. She got up, made her way in to work, only to find that the truck was stuck somewhere on the highway. She, and another brave work associate, waited for almost 2 hours before getting the all-clear from the distribution center to go home: the truck would come the next morning instead. So...with work finished at 7 am, she headed home to her soon-to-be waking family. Brendan was all too excited about the snow, and after a rushed breakfast, we all went out to enjoy it. It was so deep! Brendan insisted on making a snowman, but this was not a good snowball packing snow. So to keep the disappointed tears from flowing, Mommy made our own little mini-snowman. We searched the yard for things that could serve as eyes, mouth, and ears. It turned out pretty cute, and as Brendan has never made a snowman before, he didn't really know there should be a much bigger version than that sitting in our yard :)

All bundled up:

Oops! Brendan fell down and got a face full of snow. He wasn't too happy, if you couldn't tell:

Our snowman:

This shows you the scale of our snowman:

Tasting the snow...this took a lot of coaxing after the face-full he had received earlier. He wasn't to keen to get his face that near the snow again:

It's hard to believe that another Christmas has already come and gone. This year was extra fun because Brendan is starting to understand more. He also gets so much more excited about things these days. We spent the weeks leading up to Christmas doing some prep-work. We had many discussions about why we celebrate this particular holiday and he can now look at a manger scene and will tell you who is: baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Brendan was also taught about many of the stories and legends that surround Christmas through many family movies, storybooks, and songs. He can tell you about Santa, reindeer (including Rudolph), elves, and Frosty the Snowman, just to name a few.

As with most children, when you bring up the subject of Christmas, Brendan will respond with: "Presents!" He was too funny Christmas morning. Because of Mandy closing on Christmas Eve, and the snow we received that night, we were unable to make it to the Zervas family gathering further south. Though so sad to miss that evening's festivities, we were really glad to be able to get Brendan to bed early that night. Before tucking in, we have a few traditions of our own that had to be completed. We went outside in the snow and layed down reindeer food: to attract the reindeer to come to our house first. We left out cookies and milk for Santa. And read The Night Before Christmas.

Even with the early bedtime, Brendan still slept until past 10 am on Christmas morning. We were lying in bed awake when he finally rose. He climbed out of bed (which he does every morning now--the big boy!) and you could hear him run into the living room. He then said, "Presents. Presents." and ran into our room. I asked him, "Did Santa come?" and he replied with "Presents. Presents." I then asked him if Santa ate the cookies we left for him. After a puzzled look he ran into the dining room to check. I could hear him getting upset as he said repeatedly "Cookies gone. Cookies gone." I got up and hurried into the dining room to find him very distraught, tears welling up in his eyes, because the cookies had been taken. I reassured him that Santa must have eaten the cookies and his face lit up. To further prove that he was ok he followed up by saying with a big smile: "And drank the milk, drank the milk." Phew! Crisis averted.

Present time was enjoyable as Brendan is VERY skilled at gift unwrapping. Though we were very surprised at his favorite gifts this year. He received a new wagon, a toy computer, Toy Story dress-up clothes, a big boy potty (which he sat on to open most of his presents), another hockey puck, and much more. But his favorite toys, that we were hard-pressed to tear him away from, were two of the most inexpensive things he received: his Hot Wheels cars ($5.00) and his toy binoculars ($1.50). Figures, doesn't it?

Daddy and Brendan laying out the 'reindeer food':

Our Christmas tree on Christmas morning:

Brendan showing off one of his new Hot Wheels:

Dressed up as Woody from Toy Story:

Playing with his new "noculars.":

Chillin' with his new guitar:

After all the gifts were opened, breakfast was eaten, and some toys were opened and played with, we headed off to the Pelhank's. As is tradition, Grandpa Pelhank outdid himself and made far too much food. And we stuffed ourselves silly. We were blessed with a short visit from our nephew, Jaxon. Those boys are so cute together. Great Grandpa Pelhank was even there for the excitement. We headed home that evening and crashed pretty early. It had been a long Christmas day.

Uncle Danny shows Brendan how to use his new chain saw. Safety first (except that Danny is cutting Brendan's arm off):

Jaxon and Brendan pose for the camera with a little bribery of M&Ms:

Ba-Baw Deh-Dank with his grandsons:

The next day was time for our second Christmas with the Coles. We headed out as soon as little man woke. And we arrived in time to have an excellent breakfast feast. We followed that up with gifts. Brendan was pretty pleased that he got to play Santa and hand them out. We got a little rest, Brendan even got a short nap, then more of the family arrived. Another feast, and...(can you believe it?)...more gifts. Cookies, sweets, a game, and off we went. Back home to officially end Christmas 2010. It was such a joy, but I gotta say, I'm so glad it's over. The holidays truely are exhausting.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Santa Brendan: