Merry Christmas!



 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Like always, we had a busy December, with advent calendar activities and a visit from Mina and James, not to mention meeting Santa Claus nine times.  And we started a lot of new traditions, like the Hollywood Christmas Parade and the living creche at St. Mark's (a manger scene featuring live animals, with caroling and snacks).

 

This year I got very into making these simple conical trees - I made nine in total, out of everything from tinsel to twine.

 

Yesterday I asked Beatrice what she wanted to do on Christmas Eve and she answered, "Eat crabs and do scarf dancing."

 

So, we did some Christmas Eve scarf dancing (and we're having crab later this week):

 

Watching a movie on Christmas Eve:

 

 

Beatrice went to sleep very excited on Christmas Eve, but then she and her brother slept until almost 11 the next morning.  And when she woke up, she seemed to have forgotten it was Christmas at all*, or at least forgotten all about Santa and presents.  Instead, she became immersed in helping me make cinnamon rolls.  I was curious to see how long this would last (and enjoying my leisurely coffee-drinking) but finally Dev got impatient and took B to see her presents.

 

Christmas morning breakfast:

 

 Cinnamon rolls rising

 

 

His Santa sippy cup was a present from Beatrice.

Looking outside for evidence of reindeer - Beatrice left a bowl of popcorn outside for them the night before:

The remains of Santa's cookie plate

 

Opening stockings:

The contents of Arthur's stocking

Arthur was mostly interested in the clementine.

The contents of Beatrice's stocking.

 

Opening presents:

 

Arthur checks out his gift from Santa, oversized blocks.

 

 

 

Arthur's favorite toy was this truck phone from Nana and Nani.

 

A gift for the adults: a stunning silver tea set from Suzan and Naresh.

 

 Dress-up shoes from Nana and Nani.

 



After presents and breakfast, we took a walk around the neighborhood to try out the scooter Beatrice got from Santa:

 



 

Dev helps B learn to use the scooter.

 

 

Christmas dinner table:

 

 

 

After dinner (roast leg of lamb), the kids played with their toys a little more before bed. 

 

 Dev and Beatrice play her new board game.

 

Then, after the kids were asleep, Dev and I watched a Finnish horror movie about an evil Santa Claus.

 

Sadly, Beatrice asked several times during the day, "Is it going to keep being Christmas?" and when I told her no, "Will it be Christmas again someday?" 

 

Happily, it will.  In the meantime, Happy New Year!

 

 

 

* Dev has an alternate theory as to why B didn't mention Christmas at all when she woke up today.  He thinks Beatrice knew it was Christmas all along but didn't want to acknowledge it because she couldn't bear for Christmas to end.  He may be right - it certainly fits with her personality (and mine, and Dev's) and also,  Dev was giving so many hints about Christmas and Santa and presents, it's hard to believe Beatrice was really that obtuse.