Merry Christmas

It has been 12 days since my last update and I can't believe how fast the days went by. I don't have any new pictures to post yet... so I'll just review the highlights and post pics later.

The week of Dec 15-19 was the last week of school before Christmas break. David had a little holiday party on Thursday where he went to school in his pajamas. I thought he looked a little silly in jammies with socks and shoes but we did it anyway. The kids look really small in those form fitting pajamas. I am hoping it is the last time he goes to school in a diaper... more on that later. His party theme was the Polar Express. The teachers read the book to the kids and they had cookies and milk. I think they all had a great time. I got the book at the library so we could read it together over the break. Emily likes the book too and informed me she has already seen the movie at school. She seems to see a lot of movies at school. Hmmm...

Emily and David both had their dentist appointments on Friday Dec 19th. Emily is a pro at having her x-rays taken, wearing the cool sunglasses and having her teeth cleaned. We were very happy to hear that her gums had tightened around the tooth she nearly knocked out in early October. Tooth trauma is just not something you want to deal with... ask Chris for the gory details. Anyway, we are thrilled she will not lose the tooth. Teeth should come out because a bigger one is pushing its way through. David was traumatized by his visit to the dentist. We managed to get his height and weight but that was about the extent of his cooperation. He wanted nothing to do with having his blood pressure checked, they didn't even want to try to do x-rays, and I had to hold him down kicking and screaming to have his teeth cleaned. Poor guy! Haircuts are really not going much better. Let's hope this improves. The good news is that they both have healthy teeth and no cavities. Next visit will be in June.

Emily had her holiday party on Friday at 1:00. Parents were invited to attend. I was a few minutes late... Emily always looks so excited when I come to her school events. The kids are really on the lookout for their parents and even for their friend's parents. I love the way the other kids say, "Emily, you're Mom is here!" like they are just as excited for her. Anyway, the kids made a manger scene mobile, had a snack, and did a book exchange. The cookies were a big hit while the carrots were politely declined with unanimous "No Thankyous" at our table. At least they were nice about it. The book exchange had girls exchanging books with other girls (princess/fancy nancy) and the boys exchanged with each other... I really don't know what the boys are reading - I should have paid more attention. Anyway, Emily brought home Dora's Chilly Day and was a little dissapointed because we already have that book (and we read it when she was 2...) but I told her we could give it to a needy child who didn't have books and she seemed to go for that. Emily brought home a HUGE bag of all her school crafts which we used to decorate the house for Christmas.

Over the weekend, Chris got our Christmas tree and we were very busy getting the house decorated. Emily was truly in her element this year. She was like a little elf and couldn't wait to decorate the house. Very cute.

On Sunday, I was given the opportunity to read and give the reflection for the gospel readings to the children at church. I have been involved with this ministry, Children's Liturgy of the Word, this year but have only helped out in the past. We had a good crowd of kids... maybe 75... and I got to reflect upon the reading where the arch angel Gabriel tells Mary she will be the mother of Jesus. Emily helped me out and was so excited to do so. We started the talk by discussing Christmas cards and how exciting it is to receive them from our friends and family. Then we talked about how God sends angels to deliver his messages. Then I asked the kids what they thought it would be like to be visited by an angel and had them close their eyes. Emily, who was hidden in a closet, came out dressed as an angel and delivered a message to one of the kids. The little girl she picked opened the message which read, 'God wants you to share your toys with your friends and family.' The girl assured us she would. Then we discussed Mary's visitation with the angel a bit more and how beautiful her faith must have been to say 'Yes' and not... "can I think about this a bit..." to the request to be the mother of Jesus. The reflection went really well. I was nervous... Emily said she was too... but I think we will get more comfortable with them as we do more in the future.

My parents came to visit on Wednesday, Christmas Eve. We attended the children's mass at church where Emily was singing in the choir. She was so excited to have her Nana and Grandpa there to hear her sing. Emily looks so happy when she sings. I'm glad she is enjoying choir so much. We made a turkey with all the trimmings for our special dinner and even though it was a tremendous amount of work... it was fabulous and well worth it.

Christmas day brought lots of presents... so many that we had to break for lunch and come back later to finish! Many wonderful gifts were given and received and it was a blessing to have my Mom and Dad with us to share in it all.

Chris and Emily left on Dec 26 for the Nelli family gathering at Nonna and Pop Pops. I have been told they are having a wonderful time and Emily is really enjoying being with her cousins.

David and I have been potty training like crazy since they left. I am happy to report that he did really well during our 'naked child' days and learned to pee in the potty pretty quickly. He says, "It's like a water fountain..." and seems to be quite fascinated by this display. Well... whatever works. Anyway, today (Saturday) we started wearing underwear and ventured out to 5:00 mass where he pee'd in the big potty at church. We used his potty ring so he wouldn't feel like he was going to fall in... and it worked great. I was mighty proud.

And that brings me up to date. I need to go to bed. Good night.