It is Christmas Time...AGAIN!

First there was 12/14/2007: The Achieve Christmas Party
Then there was 12/15/2007: Jen/Dan's Christmas Party
Then there was 12/16/2007: The Hammerle Christmas Celebration
Then there was 12/24/2007: The Waldron Family Christmas
Then there was 12/25/2007: The Hatch Family Christmas

Finally...12/29/2007...we concluded the Christmas holiday season with the McKenna/Shewciw family.

Around Thanksgiving-time, Christine and Keith decided (because they wouldn't be able to see Christine's side of the family on Christmas day) to invite her family over for dinner between Christmas and New Year's, while Elizabeth was still in town. We posed the idea to the family and they graciously accepted our invitation. Later, Grandma Shewciw offered to lighten our load a little bit and purchase food from Casa del Sole . So our plans were in place...and things went off without a hitch!

Everyone came over between 4 and 5 o'clock. Christine made some of her now-famous appetizers including bacon bites, pepperoni roll, and spinach dip. Dinner was delicious and included pasta/red sauce, chicken sorrento, sausage/peppers, eggplant parmigiana, and garlic bread. Finish off the evening with some fresh Italian pastries and a Canoli cream-filled cake...yeah, we were all pretty full!

The one downside to the evening was the temperament of Austin (yes, "temper" is italicized for a reason). Austin decided that our final Christmas festivities for the season would prove to be a good time to work out and experiment with his ever-strengthening lungs. He cried in everyone's arms, except for Grandma's when he was eating. He could be soothed for a short time, but the quiet times were fleeting, while the loud and angry times were certainly more prevalent. On the bright side, some really cool photo ops were available, and Austin received an abundance of love (despite his less than approachable demeanor throughout the night).