Christmas

On Christmas Eve, Hannah wrote Santa a letter on her cookie plate. After "writing" to tell him what she wanted for Christmas ("a pink and purple present"), she scribbled all over his face...so nice.
She thought the best place for the cookies would be right next to the fireplace since he was coming down the chimney. We convinced her to move them to the table and that he would see them (and Charlie wouldn't eat them all first).
She came down the stairs and went straight to stockings. All the presents were in the family room and if we didn't tell her, she would have been completely satisfied with the stocking. And of course, she asked to finish the 1 cookie that Santa left behind.

Santa even remembered Charlie and Sammy. Hannah giving Charlie his bone.
Finally, we told her there were more presents under the tree. Santa had left her a dollhouse.

and a baseball mitt along with lots of other toys and games.

Hannah was very cute. As she would pick a present, we would tell her who it was for and then she would open it for the person. She liked one of the presents for Charlie and kept playing tug of war with him, making one of the funniest faces All done. A family photo. You can tell Sammy really wants to be in the picture.
After presents and breakfast, we went to Aunt Connie's house. Uncle Bill had made all of the kids their very own adirondack chairs.
Hannah and Owen playing with Owen's stickers.


We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

First big snowstorm

Friday and then again today, we had snow....and lots of it! It snowed all day and lucky for us, it was the good snowman making kind...

First, Hannah and I walked over to our neighbors to borrow some flour (I wasn't about to drive anywhere and plus, our driveway wasn't shoveled yet so I couldn't). It was quite the trek!

Then onto our snowman. We all pitched in and had a lot of fun.


Proud of her work, she wanted to give him a hug.Our finished snowman.
At some point, Joe once again showed Hannah the art of making a snow angel. Hannah took it as her opportunity to jump on Daddy.And then inside for some hot chocolate.

More holiday fun

It seems to be our thing to do on Fridays...go and see Santa. Hannah is definitely warming up to the old guy. This week we went to the Arlington Boys and Girls Club for a Santa event. There were crafts and of course, pictures with Santa.

Stamping away.


She wasn't interested in visiting with Santa until she found out there was a coloring book involved.

Sinterklaas and Decorating

This past weekend, we celebrated Sinterklaas. We put out Hannah's shoes and when she woke up, Sinterklaas had come and left her some goodies.

Of course, she went straight for the kruid nootjes (a small, spiced cookie) that filled her wooden shoes.And loved them!
Along with the kruid nootjes, Sinterklaas also left her a chocolate letter, a book, and sticker art. (And Daddy's favorite Dutch licorice).
As is our tradition, we use this holiday as the start of the Christmas season in our household. On Saturday, we went to our local Lions Club to pick out our tree. I think it was a record, 10 minutes to pick it out (and that included driving there and back).
This is the one.
Decorating the tree. Hannah loved looking at all of the ornaments and chose 1 small section of the tree to hang any and every ornament she could. I restrained myself and only moved the ones that actually fell off of the tree.

As is usually the case, she has her tutu on.
Our "new" nativity scene. It was my grandmother's and when we went home in October, my Buddy Joe gave it to me.

Holiday fun at the library

Yesterday we went to the Waltham library for some holiday fun. Students from Bentley College were there to do all sorts of holiday arts and crafts with the kids and then there was a special visit (and photo op) with Santa Claus himself.

Hannah loved all of the arts and crafts (she's very into them these days). No sooner would she finish one when she wanted to do the next.

There was even facepainting. She chose a snowman on one side and a snowflake on the other.
Hannah's visit with Santa. I didn't think she would actually sit and talk to him let alone take a picture as she started getting nervous and wanting me to carry her on the way over, but she did. It must be something about that big red suit and white beard because the girl will talk to anyone and everyone usually.

Here are all of her finished arts and crafts (this was only part of the options they had to do). And did I mention this was all free!

Christmas Tree Lighting

Last night was the lighting of our town's Christmas tree. The main street through our town center is closed off and Santa Clause comes in on a fire truck to help with the tree lighting. Some of the businesses also give away hot chocolate, hot cider, cookies, etc.

Hannah's favorite was the cupcake decorating.


Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman were also there to help spread cheer (and pass out candy canes).

Here it is, the Christmas tree (well, part of it anyway).

Hannah got to see Santa from afar, but had no interest in going to see him up close (which we were fine with because the line was long). He actually came very close to her walking by and it caught her off guard and she freaked out a little.

Today we're going to the library where Santa will visit. We'll see how it goes.