M – It seems some intended posts got lost in my brain while waiting for pictures. Sorry for the posts I didn’t write and for those you didn’t see.
Some days it is more fun to let our memories and youth hidden inside come out to watch the wonders dance in the eyes of young lives filled with potential and possibility….which brings us to Christmas. D asked ‘Santa’ to send Mango an email just for her. He congratulated her on being good and caring for her baby sister (she heard that she ‘carried’ her baby sister). Told her to practice her singing and that he would bring her a present she had asked for (a puzzle) when she was sleeping. It seemed like anything was possible for a moment there, as she looked at the computer screen with eyes open wide and nodded when asked if she was being good. She sang proudly for everyone on Christmas Eve.
Mommy, we MUST make cookies for Santa
While Nectarine was oblivious to the season around her, she did love playing with the boxes her presents came in.
A new place to practice vertical movement
Hee hee. I wonder if anyone knows it's me here and not a reindeer. 
The afternoon of Christmas was nice. Our children and various other cousins were great and it was friendly noisy afternoon. Let’s see. Oldest 90+ years old, youngest -1. Totalled up and you get - 4+3+3+2+4 = 16 people (adding sets of [related] families) – who were able to make it.
More to come, hopefully including Mango’s birthday, her new class of gymnastics, and interesting stuff on Nectarine’s progress.
Smile at children. They love being happy and so should you. 
My kids loved that personal note from Santa too. Aidan liked that Santa had his picture on file .Glad you had a good holiday
By: Rhonda on February 1, 2012
at 12:47 am
It was a great holiday. A bit hectic though. First time Mango really understood what was going on around her and got excited. It’s nice having Santa talk to you personally – at home – that makes one feel special.
By: simplyscrambled on February 11, 2012
at 10:48 pm