Christmas Day

As always, Christmas Day was enjoyed by all this year. Since I have already posted the pictures of Andreas' blessing, here are pictures of the rest of Christmas day.
Andreas on his first Christmas morning wearing his new pajamas:
Waiting to go downstairs and check out what Santa left us:Santa thought we were good this year...Lots of fun in the stockings too:The house was beautifully decorated as usual:
Christmas dinner was turkey, prime rib, and all the fixins


Andreas loved all of the attention from the family. Here he is shown with Megan, who had to share him with Great Aunt Diane, Grandma Z, the Great Grandmas, and even occasionally Ryder and Gabi.
Grandpa Z with Tessa and Allen:
Chatting after dinner:

Erika and Brandon (Erika and I were wearing the same color that day):
All the grandkids (except Zoe):
Great Grandma Z and Tessa:

2009 Family Pictures

By special request, here are a few recent pictures of the whole Andaverde family:

Andreas' Blessing (Christmas Day 2009)

Andreas was blessed on Christmas Day 2009 right before Christmas dinner (4:40 pm to be exact). He had Grandpa Z, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Allen, Uncle Brandon, and Great Uncle Ken in the circle, and was blessed by his dad. We just missed Uncle Alex and Uncle Sam!!! Luckily Grandma Z went out and bought him a beautiful outfit just for the occasion and Andreas barely cried the entire time.

Andreas and the Great Grandmas

Andreas was lucky enough to meet both maternal Great Grandmothers this Christmas.
Here with Great Grandma Z:

Here with Great Grandma K:

As an added bonus, here is a picture of Andreas with Grandma Z -- where we actually caught his smiling on camera!

Christmas Eve in California

This year we spent 2 weeks in California for Christmas and the New Year. Christmas Eve was at Aunt Diane's house this year and was very nice. We had a telling of the Christmas story and a few Christmas songs, and of course lots of Christmas goodies. Dinner was some very good clam chowder and tortilla soups, but of course you had to make it through a huge table of appetizers in order to get there.
The appetizer table:


Little Santa:


The Christmas Program:


Tessa and Grandpa ZRyder and Linley sing a Christmas song:
The dessert table: