Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's! Whew!

Happy New Year! We've had a glorious past few months and are looking forward to the new year. For the Thanksgiving holiday we took the Auto Train! It was the first time for us and look forward to possibly doing it again in a few years. Carver had a great time looking out the window with Kyle and when we had dinner in the dining car, he enjoyed reaching for everything that wasn't bolted down! We had beginners luck with our car being the FIRST off the train! I wish I had video of the passengers clapping and congratulating us as we walked to our car. We were told that you could be waiting for up to an hour and a half before your car was unloaded!

At 7 months old, this was a trip full of 'firsts' for Carver. It was his first trip to Florida, first Thanksgiving, first time wearing sunscreen, first time in a pool... in a moving seatzee, in a stroller along the beach, eating watermelon, dining out and sitting in a high chair, seeing palm trees, it was even his first time getting a professional hair cut at a barber's shop!
Here are the Walter's dipping their feet in the pool...


Carver reaching for his GranAnn through the Lanai screen...

The Walter's strolling down the Naples coastline for the first time together.


Outside a barber shop minutes before Carver's first professional haircut.


Carver and El Woo sharing a few laughs before the deed.
Here's the barber prepping Carver for his first haircut. I really thought that W.C. would have been just fine with someone cutting his hair, but he wasn't! He screamed, cried and arched his back like mad. We felt so terrible but he really was in need of a trim, we just couldn't bear hearing another 'Oh She's so darling'! El Woo hopes that Carver won't remember this experience. I'm pretty sure he won't, but I've got the photos if he ever wants to be reminded.



Thanksgiving dinner was in Florida this year. I welcomed the change of warmer weather and a slowed down pace. The group was much smaller than years previous, we missed the usual crew, nonetheless we still had a great time. Dinner was delicious and we all contributed to the preparation and cooking of the lovely meal. Mama K cooked up a storm with a divine pumpkin,cinnamon soup, mashed sweet potatoes with pecans and brown sugar, baked potatoes with bacon and cheese topped with cilantro and a delicious cranberry relish! Kyle did his usual and cooked the turkey perfectly, and I made a light arugula salad with pomegranate and toasted pecans with a light vinaigrette dressing.
The table was beautiful!! I can't say we ever had pumpkin soup served to us in pumpkin bowls! They were too cute!

While visiting Mama and Papa K, we ate at 3 beach front restaurants! They were all fabulous too! I've only got photos from 2 out of 3 places though...
Here we are at La Playa Beach & Golf Resort in Naples' Baleen restaurant.

Then the next day we went to HB's On The Gulf at The Naples Beach Hotel & Gulf Club. The lunch there was amazing! I had their Tomato Bisque and their Jamaican Pineapple Boat. I hope we get the chance to eat there again next time we visit! If you check out the link to the hotel (above) we sat exactly where that couple's dining in the sunset!

Before we knew it was Carver's 1st Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas with both our families and ate until we were way past our 'stuffed' point! Christmas eve afternoon was spent at my father's home. Carver was pasted around by all and interacted lovely with the entire family! It blows my mind to see him interacting with people now!
Our Christmas cards went out with these two photos included in them. You wouldn't know it, but Carver had a terrible cold during this photo shoot. He still had a great time though! I knitted his hat especially for these photographs. The pattern is called 'Candy Cane' from a fabulous baby knits book called Itty-Bitty Hats, by Susan B. Anderson.

Here is a typical scene in the Messina kitchen! My father made the kitchen table at least 40 years ago, and every family member (except my mom & dad) has been photographed when they were baby's sitting on it!

All the grandchildren... Mikey, Kenny, Carver and Dominick

The oldest grandson holding the youngest grandson!

Well, here we all are (minus my brother Tony, and Kyle-who took the photo)! Even the crazy dogs, Gracie and Cappy!
Santa meets Carver for the first time and they hit it off wonderfully!

The Walter's and their train set Christmas day. El Woo may finally have a grandchild who loves model trains as much as he does!

I shot more video footage than photographs this Christmas, but our Uncle John was sure to capture some fun moments of Carver on this special day.


Cappy was pooped out by all the running around and playing with the children...

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph father, son and grandson.

The most beautiful Christmas tree ever!

Aunt Joan and Uncle John serving up bread and butter with a smile!

New Year's Eve was very low key. So low key, I've got no photos to show for it! However if you check out Joy's blog you can see it in photos. Joy was good about breaking out the camera! Joy and Don came over and we watched Kyle and Don play Guitar Hero on the Xbox. That was pretty hilarious! And Joy and I checked out website templates, talked about photography, played with her new Nikon D300 (which is awesome!), and really enjoyed each other's company. Kyle and I had planned to just hang out solo, but it was great to have Joy and Don spend the last few hours of 2007 with us.