Santa was here...

We had an eventful Christmas this year, full of family visits, smiling children, food, wine, coffee (thank heaven for coffee!), music...the list goes on.

Christmas Eve started with some goofy fun at home:

{yes, she IS mine, i remember birthing her very clearly...all 45 minutes of labor}

{upside-down pheeber-deeber-doobers}

{lulu and her popi}

We got dressed up to go to the pageant at church at 3:00. It was great...all the kids were so cute in their little costumes and Lucy was fascinated by the whole thing. She told us in the car ride home that she wants to be an angel in the pageant next year. We'll see. A prerequisite for participation is the ability to sit still for a length of time and let's just say that we need the coming year to work on that skill!

Two highlights from the pageant:
(1) When the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she was going to have Baby Jesus, Lucy asked, out loud, "But where's the daddy?" I was not prepared to give her an entire lesson on the heart of Christianity right then and there, so I told her, "Ummm, he's at work..." Nice one, Mommy. Look, technically, I was right. God's always at work, right? :)
(2) When Mary & Joseph couldn't get a room at the inn, Lucy wanted to know what was going on. So I told her that they couldn't find a hotel room, so they had to sleep in a barn. That made perfect sense to her, and it's the truth. But for the rest of the day, she went around telling everyone that "Mary couldn't get a hotel room" as if she had been trying to check in to a Marriott Courtyard.

{jeff and santa baby, ready to go to the pageant}

{with grammy}

{wow, a somewhat decent family photo!}

After church, we decorated the tree. We went with a live tree this year so that we can plant it in our yard in the spring. I am picturing having a whole row of trees someday in graduated heights, and being able to point to each one and say "That was 2008, 2009, 2010..."

{phoebe helping with her "baby's first christmas" ornament}

{lucy doing some decorating}

{pine cone ornaments that lucy made with nonni on cape cod}

Later that night, Santa arrived and left presents for the girls...

...while they were nestled all snug in their beds, visions of candy canes dancing in their heads:

{lanz christmas jam-jams, butt high in the air}

{new christmas nightgown}

The next morning, they were raring and ready to go:

{waiting for daddy to check to see if santa came}

{did he come?}

{cookie crumbs...he must have been here!}

{santa brought a train table for lucy}

{phoebe likes it, too!}

{phoebe got a little red piano that she adores}

{ariel nightgown = big hit}

{mommy still likes to play with barbie, apparently}

{uncle kevin is almost as fun as barbie}

{the next britney spears...oh, i hope so!}

{phoebe in her "daddy present" -- a beautiful hanna andersson outfit}

{lucy in the snow}

{phoebe in some new winter finery}

{hats don't always last too long on phoebe's head}

{ma and pa in the kitchen}