it was a special year at the spence house for christmas, as dan, cassie, and alex white joined us to celebrate the holiday for the first time in many years. we were all so glad that they could be there, so we marked the occasion with a big family photo.

we all woke up early to open our presents from santa. phoebe seems really excited about that bib she got!

jackson could hardly believe his pile of presents! what was in that giant box?? (a playmobil circus tent, just what he asked for!)

aunt naomi was more than happy to pal around with phoebe for the weekend. they’d never met before, but were fast friends!

despite the sour expression, jackson did love all his presents this year!

jackson didn’t really want to open any other presents once grandpa and daddy got the circus tent set up.

cassie and alex enjoyed the show, even though they had to wake up early to see it!

matt had a good time buying presents for dan. driving goggles? where does he find this stuff??

grandpa liked his new shirt (“Grandpa since 2006″) — he plans to wear it in florida.

portrait time again! dave, jackson, molly, kurt, phoebe, marcia, matt and naomi

it’s always great to have susan and her mom, chris, over for christmas dinner. the ladies looked lovely yet again!

nine years ago (christmas 2000) we took a photo similar to this one of all the babcock grandchildren. and my, how they have grown since then (see original photo below)!

(clockwise from top center in both photos) alexander, matthew, daniel, david and cassandra

jackson isn’t big on talking to unfamiliar people. and when we walked past santa at a shop this year, he said he didn’t want to talk to him. ever.  so molly figured we should bring the letter jackson wrote and he could show it to santa on the train if he didn’t feel like talking…

jackson got warmed up when the conductor, george wireman, paid us a visit to collect our tickets. we loved him! he visited every seat, and insisted on a photo with all the children. he even showed us his cool train-engraved pocket watch!

after that, we waited… and waited… for the big guy…

phoebe was a very patient traveler

finally, jackson spotted st. nick! he told molly she’d better move off the seat so santa could sit down and talk to him!

and sit down he did… jackson managed to not only talk to santa, but also give him a big hug! dave and molly couldn’t stop smiling in disbelief.

it must have been something about being aboard a train, because jackson did NOT want to cooperate with taking this picture, once we disembarked. ah, the mind of a 3 year old!

this photo is INSANE. so many people have commented that it belongs in a magazine, and we agree. amy captured an awesome moment here — phoebe’s crossed legs and cute little smile were totally unplanned, as was jackson holding his sister’s hand. gorgeous! dave ordered a gigantic print of this for me for christmas, and I know I will cherish it for a long, long time.

jackson couldn’t get enough of this classic-looking tricycle. he’d actually never ridden one before, but he jumped on and started pedaling like a pro. it was difficult to get him off of it!

big thanks to molly’s sister, lynne, who got the kids both sets of outfits you see in these pictures. she has a knack for finding great clothes that look super on jackson and phoebe.

dave and molly didn’t plan to get in on the portraits too, but we don’t have many opportunities for a nice shot of all four of us together! so, that’s how we ended up with this “hat family” shot!