After Christmas in Ohio

We arrived in Cincinnati on December 27th and celebrated Christmas with my Dad's entire family the following day. It was really neat because this was the first time everyone has gotten together for Christmas in years - this part of the family had never met Elias! It was bittersweet because we lost two very special people this year, Granny and Aunt Susan, and they were missed. Here is the family photo we took that day:
Front row: My nephew Patriot (age 4)
Middle row: My brother-in-law Matt, sister Jessica, Grandpa Stan, Elias, me, nephew Azlan (age 2), & Mom
Back row: My Uncle Alan, Aunt Sara, cousin Curtis, Erica, Justin, & Dad

It was also a special day, though, because Curtis and Erica announced their engagement. Congratulations, you two, and welcome to the family, Erica!

In case you didn't notice in the large group shot, there are quite a lot of people wearing Bengals gear. Apparently living in Cincinnati makes it a requirement to root for the Bengals, even if they're not any good. My parents had gotten Elias this Bengals outfit, and so his cousins wore their outfits, and we got a cute picture with the three of them together.
Elias liked looking at my mom's huge winter village she sets up every year.
The following day, Elias and I went to downtown Cincinnati with my sister and her family to see Duke Energy's gigantic train display. He liked looking at all the neat moving trains!