Christmas

We all slept in a little on Christmas morning after a late night out the night before. Claire woke up, went into the hallway and picked up a Barbie Doctor set that she had asked me to open for her the night before (Note to self: If I open a new gift and set it up in the hallway, Claire will wake up and begin playing with the toy allowing me to sleep in! A win-win situation!).

After making ourselves presentable, we drove over the river and through the woods to Grandma and Grandpa's house to see if Santa left any presents for Claire. She must have been good this past year, because there was a whole pile of presents under the tree with her name on them! She opened them all before her cousins arrived and was so thrilled with each of the gifts.

This year we had a full house for Christmas because my cousins and Trish and Johnny celebrated with us. We had a nice dinner consisting of spicy lasagna and ham, the proceeded to open gifts. Christmas Day was another whirlwind of gift opening. The kids (3 readers) were able to read the gift tags, pass out gifts and open any gifts bearing their names. The good news was that the gift opening festivities did not take hours. The bad news was that we didn't really get to see what everyone received because of the paper-ripping frenzy. Next year we will be more organized!

Christmas Eve

This year, Christmas Eve was extra special since it was my 60th birthday (according to Claire). I will gladly take "60" because, if I were in fact 60, I would look quite fabulous for my age! My brother and his wife hosted a lovely soiree complete with delectable appetizers, an unbelievable Chilean sea bass dinner and lots of family fun!

The kids eyed the many, many gifts under the Christmas tree, but they were very patient and did not beg us to open gifts the entire day. Once the gift opening began, however, there was a whirlwind of activity with paper flying all over the place amidst squeals of delight and joy. Since both Claire and her cousin can now read, they were reading the names on the gift tags, passing gifts by until they came to packages with their names on them, then proceeding to open them immediately. Next year we'll have to slow things down a bit so we can fully enjoy each of the gifts as they're opened.

We ended the evening with everyone singing Happy Birthday to me and enjoying a delicious ice cream cake. I couldn't have thought of a better way to celebrate my 60th birthday!

Elf Day

All of the kindergarten classes participated in Elf Day at Claire's school today. The festive day consisted of centers in each of the three classrooms where the kids: (1.) played dreidel and made their own "dreidels" out of pretzel sticks, marshmallows and Hershey's kisses, (2.) sang songs and made reindeer food and (3.) made reindeer antlers out of construction paper and cut out handprints. I was lucky enough to be a parent volunteer in the "dreidel room." It was fun working with lots of Claire's kindergarten friends and Claire too!

Holiday Pictures

Each year we take two special pictures in December.

The first is the picture for our holiday card.

The second is a picture of Claire and my nephews. We give this picture as a gift to a few special people.

Gingerbread House Decorating Contest

Our town has a special Christmas celebration each year. We've never gone to any of the events, but this year Claire decided she wanted to build her own gingerbread house and enter it in the gingerbread house contest.

We went to an old fashioned candy store and selected some candy we thought would look fabulous on a gingerbread house and I picked up a few other items to have on hand for the project.

After mixing, cutting and baking the dough, we put together the gingerbread house and began decorating. Claire had so many great ideas for her house. I was merely her little helper. When the gingerbread house was complete, Claire was so proud of her work. We stressed that even if she didn't win first place, the most important thing was that she tried her best. This had to be stressed over and over, since winning first place is an important goal for a 5 1/2 year old.

We dropped off the gingerbread house on Friday night for judging, then came back to pick it up and see the results of the judging on Saturday afternoon. We were absolutely thrilled to see that Claire had won first place!!!! She was so excited!! She received a beautiful medal which she displays proudly in her room and shows anyone who visits our house. Way to go, Claire Bear!!!!

Turkey Day '11

Our Thanksgiving feast was small and intimate this year -- just the 10 of us. The big kids played nicely together and Peter kept himself busy in the playroom which gave his mommy a break! The turkey was moist and delicious! Kudos to my husband who always does a great job cooking the turkey! We enjoyed delicious desserts -- apple pie, pumpkin pie, flan... It was a great day and we were so thankful we got to spend it with our family.

The Star of the Show

The Boys in the Playroom

Grandma and Grandpa's holiday card picture. Check.

The American Museum of Natural History and FAO Schwarz

We have been talking about going to the American Museum of Natural History for a really long time, but we just never really found the time. Today, we finally did it! We drove into the city and went straight to the museum. We started on the first floor and moved upwards (In hindsight, we should have started at the top floor and moved down as one of the security guards suggested, but oh well!).

We got the Super Saver ticket which enabled us to see several special exhibits, including a show at the Hayden Planetarium. We especially enjoyed the butterfly garden and the special dinosaur exhibit where Claire got to look for fossils in the sand. We also thought the show at the planetarium was fantastic!

After spending hours at the museum, we took a subway to FAO Schwarz so Claire could see the "giant toy store" for the first time. It was super-crowded! We pushed our way through the crowd of shoppers and explored the store. Some highlights:

The Statue of Liberty made out of Legos 

Barbies!!!! 

Hello Kitty

Grandma and Grandpa - If you're reading this,
Claire would LOVE this Barbie foosball table!
It's only $24,999.99. Isn't she worth it????

Claire was allowed to pick one item for herself. She chose a set of Olivia figurines. She was so patient all day. Every time we went into one of the museum shops, she asked for something and we told her that she would be able to pick one item and if she got something at the museum, she wouldn't be able to get anything at the giant toy store. Ultimately, she waited it out!! My husband was extremely happy she didn't pick the Barbie foosball table as her one item. Ha!