Our very white Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope you had a wonderful holiday! We certainly enjoyed spending time with family and celebrating Jesus' birth!

The days prior to and following Christmas were filled with several inches of snow and blizzard-like conditions. We had a white-out Christmas and the weather created issues for people traveling near and far. Fortunately, we did very little driving. When we had to leave the house and travel just a few miles away, we were glad to have 4-wheel drive and an SUV that handled the 8 or so inches of snow very well.

Nonna and G-Pa bought Mommy and Daddy a new Canon camera for Christmas. It is quite an upgrade from the one we had before. As you might expect, Mommy and Daddy got very excited about the gift and took LOTS of pictures. Here are just a small portion of the 200-plus taken on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Gabriella and Adriana in front of Nonna and G-Pa's Christmas tree before Mass.

Our Family.

Mommy with her girls.

Daddy with his girls. Look at that precious smile on Adriana's face!

Gabby's personalized pajamas. These were too big last year but fit perfectly for Christmas this year.

The beautiful snowy scenery outside of Nonna and G-Pa's house.

After Mass on Christmas Eve, we had dinner with the Manginos and opened gifts with the family. Gabby loved opening the gifts. This year she was really into the holiday and somewhat understood the concept of giving and receiving.

Nonna and G-Pa got Gabby days of the week underwear. The kind Mommy loved when she was a little girl.

Gabriella and Adriana both got a pair of Timberland boots.

Just laughing and enjoying family.

G-Pa giving Adriana lots of kisses.

On Christmas Eve night, we drove on the snowy roads so we could be sure get home to leave Santa a letter along with milk and cookies. We also left an apple for the reindeer. Gabby signed her name on the letter this year.

Christmas morning was a very exciting time! Gabriella was ecstatic when she walked down the steps and found all of the gifts Santa had left for her and Adriana. She couldn't get to them fast enough. When she spotted the guitar (the toy she requested the most and talked about for weeks) she said, "Those are my toys!"

She headed straight for the guitar.

She loved the drum, too. Now she can start her own band. :-)

Adriana enjoying her toys from Santa, too.

Daddy and Gabriella playing songs for Adriana and Mommy.

Adriana sporting her new hair bow that Santa left in her stocking.

In our basement, Santa set up a Fashion Show tent and red carpet. What a perfect gift for a little girl who loves to dress up and be on stage! This is Gabby wearing a dress up skirt and shoes on the red carpet and waving to the camera. Maybe she has a future in Hollywood?! :-)

We opened gifts from each other on Christmas morning, too. This is a silhouette that Gabby made for us at pre-school. We love it!

The "small" snow drift outside our back door.

On Christmas Day, we ate lunch at N & G's. Santa is such a nice man and since the girls were extra good this year, he left some gifts at their house, too.

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Gabriella's gifts.

Adriana's gifts.

In the afternoon, the Hardys braved the snowy weather and came over to our house to have Christmas dinner together and we exchanged gifts from each other.

The Christmas spread.

Gabby opening gifts.

Aunt Bridget and Aunt Megan.

Nana, Gabby and Grandpa.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we are so lucky to have wonderful family to spend it with each year.

Adriana's Baptism and exchanging gifts

This weekend was a special time as we celebrated Adriana's Baptism with our immediate families. We had our families over for lunch in the afternoon before the Christening, and then after the ceremony, everyone came back to our house for cake and gift opening.

I apologize for some of the fuzzy pictures. Our camera is having some issues, but luckily we are getting a new one for Christmas in a couple of weeks!

Adriana waiting for our families to arrive for lunch.

Adriana's Godparents are Samantha's brother, Tommy, and her sister-in-law, Danielle.

Photo with the Manginos.

Photo with the Hardys.

Adriana with her Godparents.

With Mommy and Daddy.

The beautiful and yummy cake!

In keeping with theme, we also spent time with Gabriella's Godfather, Pat and his wife Jen this weekend. We did some shopping together and then we had dinner together. At the restaurant, we exchanged Christmas gifts. Gabriella got some really cool things: a rubber ducky that quacks and sprays water in the tub, a huge pink pig stuffed animal/pillow that she just LOVES and a collection of the Disney Princesses Goldenbooks - another hit! Here are photos of Gabby and Pat opening the gifts together.

Can you see the big pink pig in Pat and Gabby's arms? Gabby just loves this thing and it's so big it got its own seat at dinner!

Baking and St. Nicholas

Lots of things going on in our household. Adriana is now 2 months old! She will go to the doctor for her well-baby check this week so we don't have any current stats on her right now. She is growing up so fast. She is smiling a lot and cooing.

We also started making Christmas treats this weekend and celebrated St. Nicholas Day today!

Smiling for the camera!

We made Italian pizzelles, thin mints and here are some photos of Uncle Tommy, Aunt Danielle and Gabby making chocolate covered pretzels. Gabby loved getting messy!

Making homemade pizza with Mommy.

On Saturday night, we put out our shoes in anticipation for St. Nicholas' visit. As I did last year, click on the link to learn about this Christian tradition called St. Nicholas Day.

Gabriella loved her gifts: Tinkerbell bubble bath, Dora band aids, Christmas stickers and candy canes. She also thought Adriana's gifts were neat, too: binkies, a teether and baby wash.

Adriana's thick hair got a little crazy after sitting in her car seat. We think she's sporting the Kate Gosselin look...what do you think?!

Thanksgiving week

Thanksgiving week was a busy time for us. We decorated the house for Christmas early in the week and then traveled to Manhattan to spend Thanksgiving with the Hardys and then came back to Lawrence to spend the Thanksgiving evening with the Manginos. It was a very nice holiday for all of us.

Gabriella loved putting the bulbs on the tree. She is really into Christmas this year and keeps telling us what she wants Santa to bring her. Each time she passes the Nativity scene she says, "That's baby Jesus in a manger. I love baby Jesus." So precious.

The angel on top!

The final trimmings - Gabby wanted ALL of the bulbs on the tree.

Friday night with Grandpa Hardy. They fell asleep while we watched a movie.

Helping Nana, Aunt Megan and Aunt Bridget take the foil off of Hershey kisses for the kiss cookies.

Sisters.

Our family.

With Aunt Megan and Aunt Bridget.

Friday night we went to downtown Lawrence to watch Santa appear on the roof of Weaver's. Gabriella also got a chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wants for Christmas this year. She loved it!

With Nonna as she watched Santa appear.

With Mr. Claus. We think Adriana had a really good time meeting Santa for the first time!