Christmas and 2010!

Yes, I am finally updating the blog. So sorry for the delay. I have my excuses but none that you want to hear about based on the emails some of you have sent! :)

This Christmas was so special for many reasons! First, the real reason for Christmas, the birth of Christ, became so much more real to us this year now that we have baby Bentley. There is something so precious about a little baby on Christmas morning. (I was accidentally taking pictures with our video camera instead of regular camera on Christmas morning so they didn't turn out so well...such a rookie mom!)

Second, it was our first Christmas with Michel's family! We were so blessed to have Michel's brother Christian and his wife Khadia, and our nephews Paul and Theo, come to Chapel Hill from Belgium to spend Christmas with us. Khadia, Paul and Theo were meeting Bentley for the first time and he loved each of them! Paul and Theo are 18 an 13 and are the best of friends.

We had lots of fun together. The Lusakueno tradition is to have their big meal on Christmas Eve, so we went all out. Christian handled the appetizers, which were amazingly delicious...crab cakes, smoked salmon, shrimp, avocado, and more. Needless to say we were stuffed before dinner!

But we did manage to save some room because Michel marinated an amazing turkey with homemade gravy. This is obviously the work in progress photo!

Poor Bentley went to bed and missed out on the fun given it was close to midnight. This was his Christmas Eve outfit from Aunt Julie which lasted about 20 minutes before he decided to explode his diaper. Nice one Bentley!

And the last really special thing was going home to Pennsylvania to spend New Year's and my dad's birthday with my family! We weren't necessarily planning to go, but once we were on break with the time off, we couldn't stay away knowing they were all together! Christian, Khad and the boys came for 2 days, so it was so neat to have both families together.

(My dad was at a basketball game in NY, which they won, so wasn't at the dinner table here...you can see that Michel had no problem taking his spot at the table! And Nate, Janelle, Connor & Cooper were not at this dinner either, but came later and put on a dance show on New Years Eve!)