Having ourselves a merry little Christmas

Merry Christmas! We hope yours was merry and bright. Ours was a day of family, food and fun.

Emilia "got" Christmas much more this year. She's not at the stage yet when she's waking up at the crack of dawn, so we had a leisurely morning. When she woke up, we reminded her about the treats she left for Santa. She thought Santa and the reindeer were downstairs waiting for her. After we explained that Santa was resting after a long night she said, "After his nap, he comes to my house." Uh, oh - talk about a let down. Nonetheless, it was a great day. Here are some highlights:

Coming downstairs...

Putting Baby Jesus in the manger...

Looking quizzically at the remnants of Santa's snack...

Finding her stocking...Opening presents...

Discovering the special gift from Santa in the basement...

Showing off her new bunny slippers...Grandma and Grandpa (who was matching with Anna) had a great time with the girls:

And Uncle Corey and Uncle Kyle found pictures of their nieces in their stockings...
Anna slept through most of her first Noel...What a wonderful Christmas present she is this year!

Goodies for Santa and his reindeer

After Christmas Eve service and a yummy dinner prepared by Grandma, Emilia got ready for bed and set out some snacks for Santa and his reindeer. (She didn't really get the concept that he was coming to her house in the middle of the night, but she went along with it.) She made sure there were cookies and milk, but she was much more interested in the carrot for the reindeer.

Emilia in the kitchen

On Christmas Eve, the baking continued with some mint chocolate bark, peanut butter bark and magic cookie bars. Emilia, dressed in her new apron from Grammy and Poppy, was the lead baker on the magic cookie bars. She measured the ingredients, layered them in the pan and taste tested ("I not like that" was the verdict, of course). The baking was good practice for what she was about to get for Christmas...

Happy birthday, Jesus!

A few days before Christmas, we hosted a small group kids' Christmas party with the Vaughans and Hills to reinforce the real purpose of the holiday. The kids listened to the Christmas story and "acted" it out with a nativity set. They hunted for stars around the house and sang happy birthday to Jesus before diving into a yummy chocolate cake (well, everyone except for Emilia who ate leftover carrots for dessert). We hope this is a tradition we'll be able to carry on for the kids in the years to come. The older kids...And the younger kids...Best buddies...Eric and the girls...

Snow day

What a great day for a snow storm! We started the day with a pancake breakfast...

had lots of cuddling time...and ended the day with a sister bath...

Snow bunny

Happy 200th blog post!


Late this morning, we bundled Emilia up in about a dozen layers and sent her out into the blanket of snow outside. At first she just took it all in... And then, after Eric prepped her runway, she got into the action with our makeshift sled...

Buried in a winter wonderland

Last night, our second snow storm of the season started and it's still going strong. By 10:30 this morning we had nearly 11 inches. At last measurement on our deck, we were up to 19 inches! The news is reporting that this is the most snowfall in December in Washington's history. Eric worked hard to keep up with the accumulation as much as possible. It looked beautiful and will pretty much guarantee us a white Christmas.

ICE!

Yet another benefit of maternity leave: the flexibility to venture into the city on a weekday to enjoy a holiday spectacle without crowds. Yesterday, the girls and I met up with Eric to tour ICE, "an incredible walk-through holiday attraction hand carved by international artisans from two million pounds of ice" (according to the Gaylord National Harbor's Web site). It was very cool, in both senses of the word. With a temperature of nine degrees, you have to wear a special parka over your clothes and coats. Emilia's was so big on her that it skimmed the ground when she walked. Even Anna had a parka to drape over her covered stroller.

The exhibit featured amazing ice sculptures and displays. The highlight for Emilia was the ice slide. Though it took her a little while to get going, she wanted to ride it again and again. Even Eric enjoyed a ride.

Christmas baking

Even though I enjoy baking, I don't typical make a lot of Christmas treats because we're usually traveling during the holidays. Since I have been on maternity leave this season, I've had the opportunity to get in the kitchen and bake a little. In the last week, I baked cookies for our neighborhood cookie exchange, cranberry bars for our church's ladies' dessert and pumpkin cheesecake for our small group. On Thursday, I made two more cookie recipes to include in 27 gifts for Eric's staff. Eric's team had a great year, so it was fun to celebrate their accomplishments with a few sweet treats.

Heritage holiday cheer

On Wednesday night, the girls and I headed downtown for the annual Heritage Foundation Christmas party. The highlight is always the visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, who come bearing gifts for all of the children. There was plenty of delicious food and beautiful Christmas decorations. Emilia camped out at the chocolate fountain... not eating the chocolate, of course - just handfuls of strawberries intended to be dipped in the chocolate.