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!