Brunch with Santa

The Sunday before Christmas we went to the country club for brunch with Santa. Honestly, we were a little concerned about how this was going to go down after Finn didn't want anything to do with Santa last year on the East Haven trolley. This year was a little different since we had explained to him that Santa brings presents (I'm really not sure how long I'll be able to perpetuate this myth but we'll see). The setup was in our favor because the buffet was upstairs and you could choose whether or not to stop and see old St. Nick downstairs on the way out. Here's how it went.

Tess was up for anything!

She asked for a Lilly Pulitzer swimsuit.

The skeptic.

Tess and Caroline - her BFF born 20 days ahead of her.

We are so happy that they live just up the block!

(Her older brother is 2 months older than Finn so they are friends too).

Finally he bravely approaches, lured by the promise of a lollipop.

Lollipop=secured. Shopping cart=requested.

Success!

Christmas

Hooray for the holidays, and hooray for them being over! Ha! After a few days' recovery I wanted to get these photos up right away. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it so special - including those that we were with in person or talked to on the phone or exchanged cards with - it was really a sweet weekend. A few photos to provide evidence, below.

Upon waking and seeing presents under the tree,

Finn naturally heads straight for Tess's big present.

Aha! But then he sees his workbench.

And grocery cart. Score!

Loading his tools into the shopping cart.

It's like he was trying to play with everything at once.

Naturally it was important to begin drilling immediately.

Lots of things to fix.

Tess was so excited for her first Christmas!

And toys of her very own!

This photo is so "Mick" to me.

Is it the footie jams? The hair? The expression?

Big brother helping little sister open her presents.

What do you mean, this musical snail is not for me?

Aunt Sue and Uncle Mick sent this fantastic superhero cape.

Tess loves her new activity table.

Taking a moment to just enjoy.

Later that night... (we had taken a long break from presents)

Finn opened his stocking with Aunt Heather & Barber cousins.

"A HARMONICA!"

The next night, we posed with Tess in her Christmas hat.

Mimi knitted it (or as Finn would say, "Mimi yarned it.")

Unfortunately she won't keep it on but we have photos for posterity.

king of the juice

Mama's boots are a perfect fit.

Andrew took Finn to see the Christmas Pageant tonight at the Waverly Presbyterian Church, since it's a neat tradition and Finn pretty much loves anything with music and lights. By all accounts he was on his best behavior and very enthusiastic, clapping at all of the music and expressing pride at his grandfather who helped to change the sets.

The best part is when the narrator was talking about the "King of the Jews." Finn immediately asked Andrew (in what I'm sure was not the most quiet whisper), "WHERE'S the juice? May I have some juice?"

I'm looking forward to lots of good pre-holiday commentary - and behavior - this week.

but I'm so cute

We woke up this morning to a dusting of snow. I was very concerned that school would be delayed (and therefore cancelled, since school is only two hours) but thankfully it was on, and Finn got his kwanzaa lesson/gym time on before coming home to throw his dreidel at Tess. (Last week was the hanukah lesson). He is such a good kid most of the time but his one major flaw is his need to perpetually hurl objects ranging from cups to muffins to wooden concrete mixers. Everyone says he'll grow out of it, which is all good and well except that we've been saying that now for what feels like forever. So any advice on the *throwing* front would be much appreciated.

One nice thing today is that we really enjoyed playing by the Christmas tree since it was too cold to play outside. Finn is totally obsessed with several of the ornaments including a tiny acoustic guitar, a mini-french horn and a little crystal/nativity scene. He will use ANY excuse to take an ornament off of the tree. Usually he's playing one of the ornaments while singing Jingle Bells. Today he breathlessly rushed into the kitchen holding the nativity scene ornament, and said, "It's a HEXAGON!!" As long as we're impressed by his vocabulary he seems to think he can get away with anything. It often works, but not always.

The other cute thing he said earlier while playing on his ABC's play mat. He picked up the 'A' and I said, "What is 'A' for?" I thought he'd say 'apple' or 'ant' since those are the words in his favorite alphabet book. But he said, "A is for AUDREY!" Aww. He always talks about Aunt Sue and Uncle Mick and how "Uncle Mick lives in Japan" and sent him "Japanese crayons" ... his family is never far from his mind. That's how we're going to keep it.

Love to all of you from this very cold place!

holiday photo outtakes

We've been putting off taking a photo for our holiday card and now that Christmas is 2 weeks away decided to get serious. Here are some photos that didn't make the cut for various reasons.

I just think this one is so sweet,

the way Finn has his hand on Tess all protector-like.

Her expression here cracks me up. Wary much?

She thinks her big brother is the coolest, bestest guy ever.

I've had enough, I say. Enough!

(Finn: She's making me look good.)

Sniffles

Everyone in our house has some sort of ailment this week. This morning Tess was fussy and feverish enough to warrant another visit to the pediatrician. She had an ear infection 3 weeks ago and I thought might be more of the same. I feel so badly for her especially since Finn has never had an ear infection!

The good news is that her ears are clear and she just has a little cold. So I'm going to go on the notion that we're all on the mend. Only December! Is this what we have to look forward to? I hope not...

PS can you believe she's already in Finn's Irish sweater? I wonder if he'll notice.

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trimming the tree

I'm really glad that other relatives remember to bring their cameras to important photo-worthy events such as the first tree-trimming in our house. Thanks, Heather for these great pics!

"Hmm, where does this wreath go?"

Happy girl

Finn's input was integral to decorating the top 3/4 of the tree.

It's not that we don't trust him to leave our nice ornaments alone,

but yeah, we don't trust him. He's 2.

Digging gently through the nice box.

Look what is in Finn's stocking!

Thankful

... for many things, most of which were enumerated at our Thanksgiving table last week. It was so nice to be able to host and have family come to us this year, it felt really special. It also felt special to have our kids in their own beds so thanks again, Katy and Dario!

So today: a day with naps thwarted by a car ride that was just long enough for Finn to fall asleep for 20 minutes and then totally fresh the rest of the afternoon. My saving grace as Andrew is on his way home was F's early bedtime. It's 8 pm and they are both asleep so let's not discuss it. Let's just go downstairs to chop cauliflower. But first, a few photos.

Enzo totally gets my love of the butler's pantry.

Finn, Nana and Tess

Heather explaining to her goddaughter how to make Julia Child's pie crust

It was my first time doing a turkey and it was definitely a group effort but whoo, was it good. As far as turkey goes, anyway. It (he? it?) was delicious.

We are lucky to have a baker such as Heather in the family, don't you agree?

Dario, Enzo, Massi, Papa and Finn

Last Saturday night Andrew and Finn braved the cold on Market Street to watch the Parade of Lights. Finn was so excited about the lit-up trucks, I don't think he even noticed that he couldn't feel his feet when he got home!