Christmas Report

As told by Beth: Like last Christmas, it seemed like it was hard to find time to do all of the things we wanted to do, but this year we did fit in the cookie making on Christmas Eve (last year we left toast for Santa!) Mom, Katie and I worked hard baking and decorating the cookies. Katie was very enthusiastic about it and we heard a lot of "Let me!" and "I can do it!"

Caroline ended up spending most of the day in her jammies, as the baking was going on, but she didn't mind a bit. Finally it was time to get ready for church and Dad and Jamie went ahead to save us seats while Mom and I got the girls dressed. Unfortunately there was a little mix up with the times (the church bulletin said mass was at 4:30, when it really had started at 4). So we had some "tense" moments and finally rerouted ourselves to another church and made it in time for their 5 p.m. service. It was something of a miracle that we found seats and even got to sit together. Katie was pretty good during church and enjoyed going up to sit on the alter to hear the Christmas story with the other kids. Caroline was a maniac and we all took turns trying to keep her contained and happy. We returned home and had a nice Christmas Eve dinner. There was one more snafu as the safety pin on Katie's skirt got stuck and Poppy had to get out the wire cutters to remedy the situation! After Caroline was tucked in and Katie was in her pajamas we got things ready for Santa and the reindeer. Since we didn't have any carrots, we offered Rudolph green peppers and orange slices-- at least Santa got cookies this year!

Both girls were good sleepers as they waited for Santa to come and waited until 8 o'clock to get up. Katie was very excited that Santa had been here and had eaten the cookies and left her a note. Katie's big present was an art desk and Caroline received a "bounce and spin" zebra. Initially, she wasn't in the mood for it, and she gave us some funny expressions! Once Jamie helped Lily with her stocking, Caroline was really only interested in the dog toys. Every time we turned around Caroline would have a dog bone in her hand! I was excited to have Caroline open her Ugly doll and she helped pull a little of the paper off, seemed interested for a moment, then took the stuffed animal out and sat herself in the box and played with some paper napkins!

Katie was excited about all the many gifts: princess dress (the blue Cinderella one!), dollhouse furniture, a baby doll in a red trunk full of clothes (which used to be mine), csome adorable clothes, a portable DVD player and her favorite gift of all: a candy cane in her stocking!
Jen, Billy and Hannah arrived around 10:30 and we all enjoyed a big breakfast. The kids did there gifts and then the little ones were off to nap. Once Caroline and Hannah were down, the grown-ups opened the rest of the presents. We all got tremendous enjoyment out of the DVD player as Katie settled in to watch a new movie and we all got a little quiet time.

We had a terrific Christmas dinner with Jamie's roast being the star of the show. There was a period of time when Jamie, Dad and Billy were clustered around the carving board "mmming" and "ahhhing"-- we wondered if it would make it to the table. The little girls all loved it, too and Lily was delighted to take care of the scraps.
The highlight of course was seeing the girls' excitment and spending time together. While we enjoyed our time here, we certainly missed seeing the Canadian family. And our hearts are heavy this year as Jamie's Dad continues to battle brain cancer. He is having increasing difficulty getting around and has decided to be hospitalized starting today. Read more: http://barryl.blogspot.com/

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and shared as many blessings as we did.