Merry Christmas!

I'll start our tales of Christmas with our pre-holiday baking. Katie helped with the Snickerdoodles (which the girls called Nickerpoodles) and Caroline assisted with Daddy's other favorite cookie- Spider Cookies which is a recipe from his family. I know Spider cookies sound more like Halloweek than Christmas, but Jamie enjoys them, and they are a no-bake variety, so they fit in well with all of the baking.

After all of the baking, the girls sang some Christmas karaoke, which was entertaining.

On Christmas Eve day there was more work in the kitchen. In addition to doing our cookie cutter cookies, Katie and Poppy helped crush some candy canes for my candy cane cake. Poppy was happy to be involved with a cookie project that necessitated a hammer!

The girls got plenty messy with their cookie decorations. Thankfully, Grandma was there to ration the sprinkles!

Just as we were wrapping up the cookie prep, Jen, Billy, Hannah and Emma arrived. The girls were happy to see each other and sat down to lunch.

After a too-brief naptime, it was time to head to Christmas Eve mass (which started at 3:30). Seat-saving was not allowed, so we had to send most of our crew early to ensure that we could sit. As expected it was very crowded, but we had no major schedule snafus (as we have the last two years), so we'll call it a success! The girls all did pretty well, but we were grateful that our seats allowed some room to roam.

After mass we attempted some family photos, but it seems we used up all of our sitting still at church!

After dinner and PJs, I read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to the girls. Some were more attentive than others and everyone wanted to sit by Emma.

After the book, we got our cookies ready for Santa and Katie spread her reindeer food in the yard. Then we got everyone settled for a not-long-enough long winter's nap.

The girls were up early-ish, but Billy kept them contained until the designated 8 a.m. And then finally they were allowed to come down stairs.

As always, we were blessed with many gifts. It was a bit chaotic opening the many presents, but it seemed that Santa was good to everyone!

Lily enjoyed opening her stocking.

Katie was delighted with her Easy Bake Oven from Santa- her #1 request.

The girls were also excited about their new sleds.

In preparation for the sleepover party, Katie and Caroline got new sleeping bags from us (they included a furry dog on top if you are wondering what Caroline is hugging).

Lily used her nose to unwrap a new bone.

Caroline liked her Tag Jr. reading system and admired some new books.

After the kids finished their gift opening, we had breakfast and then the kids played with their toys.

Caroline received an elaborate vet set from Santa and here she is sporting the glasses and pager.

Poppy enjoyed playing with Emma's new musical instruments, even though their were no granddaughters nearby to play with.

Grandma helped Caroline play with one of her new toys and then Caroline and Hannah really enjoyed playing with the new baby doll things. I missed a great photo when I discovered that Caroline had wedged herself into the little baby doll crib, covered herself with a doll blanket and inserted a doll's pacifier in her mouth. Unfortunately, I was trying to convey to her that she was too big for the crib and that it was not meant for her to sit in . . . while simultaneously thinking "quick get the camera!"

That afternoon, Poppy and I got to work assembling the gingerbread village, which required a fair bit of handywork . . . they weren't solid enough to work on, so the kids didn't decorate them until Saturday.

We enjoyed a nice meal with the star being Jamie's much-labored-over prime rib roast. Apparently I failed to take a photo of us eating, but you can imagine what it looked like! After our feast, we talked ourselves into some candy cane cake and peppermint ice cream and wrapped up the fun-filled day by playing with more new toys, including Twister.

Here, Emma sat her "right bum on yellow" so Katie and Caroline followed suit.

The day flew by in a blur of ripped paper and oven timers, but we had a nice time and a good visit with everyone. Hope all of you had a nice holiday, too!

Christmas Program, Santa, Nutcracker, B'day

This week we had the treat of attending the kindergarten Christmas program at Katie's school. It was very cute and we were very excited to hear Katie do her speaking part, which she had been practicing (see videos below).




After the program all the parents were invited back to the classroom to work on an art project with their child, which was a little nativity scene.

On Saturday Grandma and Poppy arrived for their week-long visit and that evening we went to visit Santa. Both girls were comfortable going to talk to him and we actually got a photo with two smiles!

Santa asked the girls who had been good this year and both raised their hands. Then he asked "Who's not telling the truth?" and Caroline raised hers! Katie asked for an Easy Bake Oven and Caroline requested baby doll stuff. Glad our rehearsals paid off, so we didn't have any surprise additions to the list on Dec. 19!

After Santa we enjoyed a nice dinner out and then drove around to look at some Christmas lights.

On Sunday the "boys" and Caroline ventured to an interesting mega/specialty grocery store/park to purchase our Christmas roast. Poppy enjoyed taking a peak inside of one of the best restrooms in the world. Too bad Grandma wasn't there to get a look!

That afternoon, Katie and I took Grandma to the Nutcracker as her Christmas present.

We enjoyed a nice lunch downtown.

And we also looked at all of the old department store windows that they have on display--which Katie looks forward to as much as the ballet.

And then we enjoyed the show. Katie didn't talk as much this time, or ask as many questions, but she was fidgety!

Here's Katie with her new change purse- a birthday gift from Great Gammy and Great Poppy in Nova Scotia.

Monday was Katie's actual birthday. We had already celebrated some in November, but we had a few little gifts for her to open including her Daisy Scouts necklace.

She had a fun day at home with Grandma and Poppy and requested to stay in her pajamas until after her rest time.

That evening we went out to dinner and Katie got to bring her friend Miranda. Jamie requested some birthday singing from the wait staff for Katie and the look on her face was priceless! She looked absolutely mortified during the singing/clapping, but then as soon as it was over, she said "That was awesome!"

The kids enjoyed snowman sundaes and got to decorate their ice cream. None of them ate much of it, but Caroline did enjoy "doing shots" of the little cups of candy decorations.

After dinner we went home and Katie opened a few more gifts and then she and Miranda played with her new bead set.

That night as I put her to bed, I asked if she had had a nice birthday and she got this sad look on her face and paused for a long moment and then said "Yes, but I just wish it wasn't over."

As part iof her birthday present, Katie received some nee leotards and started gymnastics classes on Tuesday. Grandma and Poppy came along and we were all pretty entertained. She really enjoyed it and did a nice job listening and following instructions.