Yule, Christmas and Daddy's Birthday!

Once again my pictures are not in order and once again it took me days to get them all loaded. I hope that you'll bear with me being all over the place and the two holidays being all jumbled up. It's been a hard year so far with many tears but love keeps us strong in the hard times and family gives us more love then anything else in this world. To the people we love the most in all the world and for the lessons we've learned from each of you we extend our deepest gratitude and as always our most sincere appreciation and love. May 2012 improve and become a beautiful year that we will look back on fondly in years to come.  



I was trying to get a picture of the cousins but no one wanted to cooperate.





I give up.



The hand print platter the kids made at the pottery center.  



We have a lot of traditions at Christmas. This is one of my favorite ones. Each year we all color a page in an oversized coloring book. The book goes all the way back to before Rob was born and it's really fun to see how they evolved over the years (and how many people color in it now). Keep your eyes out for other people coloring too.



Posing in her "dream dress" You will see below just how much she wanted this one. It's a hoop skirt and it wasn't easy to find in pink.Thankfully Santa and Grandma and Grandpa are REALLY good friends.  

V got some new wheels and couldn't let a little thing like clothes slow him down.

The best gift of all a baby in a box. Too bad his parents are so attached to him and don't want to give him up.

Books are good gifts.

Godfather Drosselmeier in nutcracker form!  

Booties from Sammy!

The teddy his cousin made. Seraphina is hiding from the camera.

Playing with Hess trucks!

Daddy likes his gift ;)

Feeding the reindeer!

Nutcrackers my children made just for me! The best of my collection!

A indoor greenhouse.

A great gift!



The mystery gift makes Seraphina happy!





Seraphina's Yule snack night!





If she looks like she is in pain, she isn't. The kids are happily playing on their spooners.





Seraphina made this little glass piggy for Arnold.





Seraphina made Daddy a night cap at her sewing class. As you can see she is THRILLED that he likes it.



The finished product. This took her weeks to make and as you can see she was pretty proud of the work. She was also sick here which is why she's in pajamas and looks a little pale.