Christmas Day

Finally the big day has come and Christmas is there. Even though we got woken pretty early- 7 am - we were happy to get up and open presents with Isabella.

Here are some pictures of Isabella

• checking out the presents
• wearing her new dress - thank you Tante Maria!
• playing with her pretend food and pots and pans - thank you Grandma & Grandpa!
• painting with new watercolor paints
• Daddy showing the Gruffalo Pop Up Theater Show
• Isabella wearing her Dirndl - A German traditional dress - Thank you Tante Maria, again!

Thanks for all the gifts, she enjoyed them, but will need some time to explore them all. Of course, she liked to play with Zoe's news toys, too.

Twas the Night before Christmas

This year Isabella understood for the first time the whole Christmas thing and we wanted to make the whole show for her. First we sat in front of the fire place and had hot cocoa and cookies while reading the Night be fore Christmas. After that we prepared a plate with cookies and a cup of milk for Santa. We made sure to have a sign so Santa knows it is for him. After that it was time to go to bed. Isabella was totally crazy since it was a little past her regular bedtime and the excitement.

Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year

Isabella has been talking about Christmas for several month. She's been bugging us about a Christmas tree and wanting to read the Grinch. Finally after Thanksgiving we started reading Christmas books and talking about the upcoming events. Last weekend we got our Christmas tree. Even though this is the 3rd time for Isabella to go with us to the Christmas Tree Farm, this year it is the first time that she really understands it and enjoyed it. We went to the farm and went on they hay wagon for a ride to the field to choose a tree. Afterwards we went home and after dinner we started decorating the tree. Isabella got really tired since it has been a long day and it was pretty cold out on the farm so she dozed off on the sofa.  Because she was behaving so great Daddy brought her a little Snoopy snowglobe which she held while resting on the sofa with Hoppy.

See Isabella wearing the tree skirt.

Today we baked some Christmas cookies which was a lot of fun. Isabella was helping me a lot and snacked a lot of the dough. Itwas a big mess but I forgot to take pictures of the making itself.