Christmas Day

Every year, Grammy and Grandpa make the trip down from New Hampshire to celebrate Christmas Day with us.  We love having them and the girls nearly burst with excitment when they arrive because they are so excited to show them all of their presents - they are lucky enough to be the first ones to see the presents left by Santa.  After spending some time playing, relaxing and watching Sleeping Beauty, we had a fabulous dinner (if I do say so myself).  Thanks for making the trip Mom and Dad!

Excited that Grammy and Grandpa are here (I have a photo like this from every Christmas, Elizabeth airborne with excitement!)

Dancing to the theme music from Sleeping Beauty.

Talking to Grammy and Grampy in Arizona.

Our festive Christmas table.

Lee carving our Christmas prime rib.

Christmas dinner with Grammy and Grandpa.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning with our two little girls was all that we could have hoped for.  After spending Christmas Eve in New Hampshire with family, the girls were primed and ready for Santa to arrive.  Santa did not disappoint, bringing them exactly what they asked for and, to quote Elizabeth, "even things we didn't ask for!"  The first few moments were great, but the rest of the morning was pretty special as well.  Here are some photos from the mayhem that was Christmas morning on Clover Street!

Elizabeth went right for her stocking (shout out to Miss Jen's Christmas card, displayed right above it).

Making sure that she gets absolutely everything in the stocking!

So EXCITED!

Stopping for a while to play with their new train set.

These kids have incredible self restraint - despite all of the presents waiting for them under the tree, they spent a significant amount of time playing with their trains before moving on.

We love Priscilla!

Could it be...???

It is!  The often requested Sleeping Beauty movie!!

All Emily wanted was a BINGO game!

The gumball machine was a gift for Emily selected and purchased by Elizabeth at the Gingerbread Shop.

Mommy was so overwhelmed by the beautiful candle that Elizabeth picked out for her.

Opening their present from Uncle Mike, Auntie Kelly and Felix.

Daddy got Photoshop for Mommy (because she needs to spend more time taking photos and editing them....!!!)

Mommy surprised Daddy with his gift - Peter hid it behind the tree when we were in New Hampshire on Christmas Eve!

A nail gun and compressor - perfect for all sorts of projects around the house!

Mommy even got some new charms for her Pandora bracelet.

Christmas Eve in New Hampshire

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, we headed up to New Hampshire to celebrate with Lee's extended family.  As usual, the festivities were held at Margie and Tom's house, and they are wonderful hosts.  There was plenty of great food to go around and most of the family was together.  We all had a wonderful time, especially the girls.  They are the youngest people there and the family always spoils them rotten - our car was overloaded with gifts when we headed back to Connecticut that night.  As always, we are overwhelmed by and grateful for the generosity of our families.  Our hearts are warmed by their love and we simply can't imagine spending our Christmas Eve anyplace else.  More photos here.

Aunt Margie's beautiful tree.

Emily is so excited!

Some of the great aunts - Melissa, Margie, Denise and Chris.

A great present from Jessa!!

Yep - she loves it!

More presents

Here's a big one from Aunt Denise....

A pink Barbie convertible!!!

Emily got a Barbie hot air balloon!

A beautiful stuffed bear!!

A beautiful new scarf!!

Images from Christmas Eve

Saying a tearful goodbye, until next year, to Nick, our Elf on the Shelf.

Santa has arrived!

The train table.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....

First 45 Seconds.....

....of Christmas morning on Clover Street:

(pay no attention to the paparazzi flashes!):

Merry Christmas

Thank you to all who serve so that we may be free.  Merry Christmas everyone.

How Many Rings?

Lee had to cut off a portion of the bottom of our tree - well, the trunk is so big, he noticed he could easily count the rings - 10 of them, to be exact.  The responsibility for teaching the girls about nature easily and naturally falls to Lee - I can prevent myself from squealing when I see a bug, but he casually picks it up and lets it crawl all over him, much to the delight of the girls.  So he called them over to show them the rings, count the rings with them and explain what they meant.  We were surprised by how enraptured the girls were.  And the best part?  Every week, Elizabeth has to bring something in to share/show the class and the item has to go with the theme of the week.  One of the themes last week was the number ten, so she brought in this piece of tree trunk to show everyone.  It was such a hit that she got to show it to the other two kindergarten classes!

Lee showing the girls how to count the rings on the trunk of the tree.

Guitar Hero

Thanks to her Christmas present from Auntie Grail, Emily thinks that she is a rock star.....

Emily with her new guitar.

Christmas Celebrations Begin

On Saturday, despite the drastic Connecticut weather reports, we piled into the truck and headed for New Hampshire to have our first Christmas celebration.  For more than ten years, my side of the family has celebrated the holiday together on the Saturday before Christmas - and even Nor'easters can't keep us apart!  Elizabeth and Emily had a wonderful time with their cousins and we enjoyed spending some quality time with the adults in the family.  The meal was great and watching the cousins open their presents together was awesome - the frenzy, the excitement, it was so great!  Afterwards, the adults had a yankee book swap, which was highly amusing.  We were sad to leave the festivities a bit early but our timing was perfect, as we pulled into our driveway in just as the first snow flakes started to fall.  It was such a wonderful day!!

Katie helps Emily with one of her presents.

Emily loves her new book.

Elizabeth happily tears into a gift.

Could she be any happier?

The girls crowd around Meghan as she opens her special present from Elizabeth.

Dad/Grandpa chooses Sarah Palin during the book swap, which caused much laughter.

Elizabeth and Emily helped some of the adults unwrap their books and then proudly held them up for all to see!

Elizabeth with her godparents, Uncle Mike and Auntie Sandra.

An impromptu family picture at the end of the night.