White Christmas!

We didn't have to dream of a White Christmas - it really happened! A bit after gifts and breakfast, the snow started coming down heavily at our house, and all across North Georgia! These shots were taken in the early afternoon as we pulled out on the way to my parents' house in Atlanta to continue our celebration - and hope to beat any potential ice on the roads! We live on top of a very steep hill, and it was wet but not icy when we left...

You can see how thick the flakes are in these shots!

Our next door neighbor's house and our front yard

Since the girls didn't have a chance to play in the snow before leaving home, what with me worrying that we'd get stuck on icy roads if we didn't go ahead and head out when we did, they were glad to see that Atlanta got almost as much snow as we did! It had started falling there not quite an hour before we left home. In the evening before dinner, Caroline and Cecilia got to play outside in it! Cecilia got new rain boots from Gramma and Grampa, which came in handy!

The snow was still there the next day, as I mentioned in the previous post:

Grampa pulled the girls down the hill on the plastic sled.. it still wasn't a good enough snow to ice the streets and make using the "real" sled a possibility.

Check out the awesome winter coat... I think he got this coat in the early 80's, maybe even the late 70's. The sleeves zip off, and there are sections of it that are "paneled" in corduroy... my youngest brother wore this coat, with the sleeves zipped off, when he dressed up as MacGuyver, ha ha!

Cecilia's turn!

I'm glad they got to play in the snow! There was even some left at home when we got back yesterday, and they went out and played in it today. Our front yard gets very little sunlight this time of year, so while the yards across the street have nothing left, ours still has snow, so they might get to play in it tomorrow, too! Our chickens don't care for the snow... today, we set 'Lorpie down in the middle of some snow, and she wouldn't move - not at all. Not even when the girls chased her. Not even when they twirled a ribbon baton next to her. Not even when they kicked a ball at her. She was totally baffled and couldn't even walk the six feet it would take to get to exposed grass. Poor thing, I finally had Caroline pick her up and drop her back on "dry land" again!

...on the Feast of Stephen

"Good King Wencelas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,

When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even..."

The feast day of St. Stephen was not officially celebrated this year since it fell on a Sunday, which was the Feast of the Holy Family, but we brought our new book, Stephen's Feast, so Uncle Stephen could read it to the girls on his "name day." And outside the snow had fallen, the day before, and was certainly still on the ground, and very crisp as well! What a treat to have snow on Christmas Day in Georgia - I only remember one Christmas in the mid-80s when it snowed on Christmas morning, and I was sick with strep throat and couldn't go out and play in it!

Interestingly, I had made a recipe of my grandma's (my dad's mom) to share with everyone to see if they recognized it - it is a raisin cookie that has a very distinct taste because the only spice used in it is cloves. The cookies - for some reason - are called "rocks." St. Stephen, who was the first martyr, was stoned to death... with real rocks, of course. The snow, seeing Uncle Stephen, the "rocks," - all happening on the Feast of St. Stephen!

Images of Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Some photos of Christmas in our family... so far!

Christmas Vigil Mass

Caroline was a shepherd at the pageant before the 4:00 and 5:30 Vigil Masses, and Cecilia joined her as a sheep the second time!

unwrapping the Christ candle!

Our Christmas Dinner... since we went to my parents' house for Christmas Day Dinner, I made our semi-traditional "Christmas Pasta" after the Vigil Mass

Advent wreath transformed with white candles and the Christ candle!

Nadolski Family Christmas tradition of eggnog and treats after dinner while each child opens one gift

In an effort to avoid what I refer to as "Bike Helmet Drama," I've decided that the girls will always open a gift of pajamas, slippers, or something along those lines... Cecilia got slippers, and Caroline got a bathrobe!

Some scenes around our house after the girls were in bed... baby Jesuses appeared everywhere:

Remember the empty mangers they found on St. Nicholas Day?

Discovering their full mangers and the family nativity scene in the morning!

Finding the baby Jesus in the soft hay in their Good Deeds Manger

Some gifts:

Cecilia's gift to Caroline: a picture she made with nativity stickers and markers

The girls got new dresses and pajamas for their dolls

Cecilia opens one of the presents Caroline made for her (and "wrapped" herself in a playsilk!)

"helping" Daddy unwrap a gift

Cecilia's doll wearing her new pajamas and a new scarf, handmade by Caroline!

Lots of tiny pieces, yay!

Seriously, this set is adorable and so, so detailed. The knobs on the stove turn! There is a pipe under the sink! There are ice cubes in the freezer!

Later on Christmas Day:

Cecilia's friend, waiting to see her at Gramma's house!

Gramma's early Christmas gift: new sunroom furniture! And new A/C and ductwork, and a new breaker panel... The House was given lots of gifts!

One of the cutest photos of Cecilia ever... one of 367, that is.

Uncle Stephen painted this lamb about 20 years ago and it has been a Christmas decoration next to the tree ever since.

More gifts:

Gabby defies gravity (she can't even use her front claws since they have "fake nails")

Gabby and Mason, my parents' (and Tim's) cats, gave a present to my dad. Ironically, it was not a lint brush.

More disturbingly, Skeeter, the cat who died several years ago (triggering Mason's first episode of PTSD), gave me a gift... it was comics my dad saved for me. Ghost of Christmas Past??

Caroline giving Grampa the gift from us: a homemade candle that she and Cecilia decorated

Cecilia's pigtails defying all odds and staying in their hairbands, as she reads a new Jesse Bear book

Caroline and Cecilia with the birthday cake for Jesus - an eggnog cake, one of three desserts we had while celebrating in Atlanta!

December 26th: Feast of the Holy Family

Cecilia dressed for Mass

We attended Mass as a family with my family - but not Dutch. He stayed home. ;)

My brother Mike, his wife Crystal, and baby Julianne came over for gifts and dinner

Caroline making placecards for our big family meal

No Nadolski Family Holiday meal would be complete without a bowl of chilled black olives on the table...

...or without the black cherry jello fruit molds (they disappeared many years ago and have been reinstated!)

And a few more pictures of Christmas in our home:

Christmas cards from family and friends

We got a few great new Christmas books: Room for a Little One, Who's Hiding?, The Little Drummer Mouse, and Joy to the World.

I hope everyone is having a very blessed Christmas season!