Here comes Santa Claus

Our Christmas morning was a bit different this year. Adam had to work all night, so returned home around 8am. Therefore, I had the big job of making sure the kids didn't see that Santa had come, until Adam got home. I succeeded at keeping both Calli and Marin in my room upstairs until Adam was changed and the cameras were set up to record the grand entrance!! Calli came down the stairs, stood beside her new doll house and throwing her hands on her hips said "Hmmm. I don't know what Santa was thinking!!" She then walked over to see whether he'd eaten the cookies and slurped up the eggnog! She was thrilled to see that the reindeer had eaten most of the carrots, but was a bit distraught that Santa had left a few cookies on the plate. We then set about opening the stockings and presents and preparing (read - cleaning up the disaster area) for the arrival of Kevin and Chelsea who were coming from Kingston for the day.

Uncle Kevin and Auntie Chelsea brought a geode for Calli as one of her gifts! It looked like a relatively regular rock on the outside, but....



...after Uncle Kevin cracked it open, it was this beautiful crystalized rock inside!!



Calli loves visits from Uncle Kevin and Auntie Chelsea. Uncle Kevin always has some French words to teach her and Auntie Chelsea has very long hair, perfect for brushing. AC has a very good Barbie persona as well and you'll see the beautiful hairdo she was sporting while playing Barbies in the new doll house!!



After celebrating a very Green Christmas, we were treated to snow 2 days later. It snowed enough to stay and to play! It was pretty heavy snow at first, causing our tree to sag again. This tree has taken quite a beating!



We all bundled up and went outside to play. Marin hasn't quite got the hang of her snow boots yet, so tends to spend a lot of time standing in one spot. This makes it easy for Nellie to play with her!! And knock her over...



Marin got a kick out of standing in the falling snow!



We did manage to make the most of the snow and build a snowman in our front yard. Here are the proud builders with the finished product.



Later that night after Adam left for work, he called us from his cell phone and told us to check out the neighbours snowman. Our neighbours have 2 teenaged boys and one of them built a rather busty mermaid out of snow...

Calli and Marin all bundled up!! Yes, that is a bandaid on Calli's forehead. She had a small scratch from somewhere and has been picking it ever since, so when she realized the scratch produced blood, she insisted on having a bandaid. I thought it might show her how silly she looked, but she wore her Dora bandaid ALL DAY LONG!!



After playing outside for a few hours, Nellie was absolutely pooped. She was almost begging to get back in the house and curl up in her nice warm bed. She was so tired that when the forced air heater came on beside her bed, she had to be woken up to move, before her fur got too hot! Poor little doggie!



My brother and his little kitten just left yesterday after spending a week with us. We went all out one afternoon and enjoyed Brotzeit (a small snack consisting of cold cuts, specialty swiss cheeses, a variety of breads, olives, oysters etc) together. Here is the table all set up ready for us to feast! Notice the beer in the traditional beer steins. Adam loves pulling out the liter glasses when company comes over!



And I had to include this picture. Nellie has become obsessed with sitting on the girls' chairs and has been known to push them out on occasion. Marin was obviously enjoying Nellie's company here...looks like Nellie was being used as a blanket?!!



HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!! XXOO