Baby's first abacus

For Christmas, Dad made a few neat items in the basement. First off, he made a nutcracker for each family (and brought a bag of assorted nuts) - us, Doug & Sarah, Krista & Abe, and Becca & Josh. He also made a little rolling toy for Jacob and one for Toby. And for Reed, he made this block toy, to which Reed has taken to playing.

Christmas was fun; we went to Doug & Sarah's for Christmas Eve. The next morning, we had our small family gift opening at 6:30am. Since the boys were up, we all were up, and we figured we might as well start it off. (I gave Andrea a nice vacuum-insulated travel coffee mug and some Caribou Coffee grounds; she gave me a zafu.) Later on, my parents came over and we had a huge breakfast -- some egg bake, Hungarian Coffee Cake, venison and pork bacon, and so on. Yum. After noon, we all went to Doug & Sarah's house for social time, some drinks, and later dinner. It was a great day.

New Year's Eve, we're planning on hosting my family (including Nate and Lonnea), but no spectacular plans. Probably dinner and a few drinks. Last year, we didn't stay up very late (11pm, maybe?). We'll see about it this year.