Pete, Caleb, and I spent Thanksgiving this year (as we do every year) with Pete's family in and around Philadelphia. It is a big-family tradition, with 60 or so parents, kids, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. joining in the fun. It has gotten so big that the last couple of years we have held the dinner in a church hall big enough for everyone and with enough space for the kiddos to run around.
Caleb with some of his cousins. He really loves the ladies! (And a warning for the rest of this post = my pictures in this room all turned out grossly green... I tried to fix some of them, but rest assured no one involved in our Thanksgiving felt as green as they look in these pics!)
His five-year-old cousin, Gina, spent a good bit of time teaching Caleb some new dance moves. (He has always loved to dance, but until now has really only showcased his one "bounce" move.)
May I have this dance?
Cousin love!
Intent on checking out the person who suddenly showed up after dinner...
It's SANTA!!!! Everyone was wondering how Caleb would do up close and personal with Santa. Pete and I had no doubt he would eat it up!
I can't believe it's really YOU, Santa!
Your beard tickles!
I love this Santa guy!
Playing with his Uncle Dave's beard - Santa made him think they are cool!
Santa and - Spoiler alert! - his sister and parents:)
... And most of his first cousins, plusa Uncle John
Cousins waiting their turn... except for Caleb, who is once again leading a very patient Uncle Doug back to Santa! Uncle Doug was great - holding Caleb just out of viewfinder range of Santa but close enough so Caleb could ogle at him :)
Wide-angle view with attentive toddler :)
Caleb, his cousins, and Santa. This picture cracks me up, because I know Pete took it - he inherited the subject-in-the-bottom-half-of-the-frame philosophy :)
Another wide-angle view, this one showing Pete's behind-the-scenes work in trying to get little ones to look towards the camera (and, of course, Caleb trying once again to get in Santa's lap)
He was SO eager to get back on Santa's lap after he had his turn. If we put him down, he'd walk in between everyone's legs to wind his way right back to Santa and interrupt whatever patient child was sitting on his lap. Little stinker... but I love his unabashed excitement!
Group shots - LOTS of cousins!! And one great-Nana (and a great great-Nana at that! :)) I think we have all but three second-cousins in this shot.
What most of my group shots look like (minus the leaves, which I just added in as the blinds were bothering me :))
Three of the four youngest and one of the oldest. Gina's party-ready smile cracks me up!
Hanging with the big boys (Sorry for the nauseating overcast - tired of pulling green out of these indoor shots!)
Uncle Dave's torpedo game
Caleb loves his uncles!
Despite the wheelchair, Nan had the hottest dance ticket in town! (Cousin Jimmy had solicited everyone's favorite music and had the room jamming all day long. He also decorated the walls and tables with about a thousand family pictures that everyone sent to him - he is amazing!)
Caleb wanting his cousin's attention while Taylor was busy texting
Cousin Chance lending a hand
I am SO SAD to share that the vast majority of our trip pictures somehow got mysteriously deleted in the upload process. Losing pictures is no big thing in the long run.. although more disturbing than it should be in the immediate sense. We had SUCH cute pics from a day at the Touch-Me Museum with Caleb and in the park with Caleb and his Buffy. I even finally got a great Christmas-card photo of Caleb... which is now gone! Alas.