Pa

I just love this picture I got today of Margaret Rose and her Pa. Both girls ADORE Lee's dad and we are so very lucky that the girls have him in their lives!

The girls decided they wanted to make masks and got Baba to help.

First Hair Cut

Margaret Rose had her first haircut with Miss Debbie today. We were going to have Mary Clare go first to reassure MR that it would be okay but she insisted on going first.

I think she likes it!
Pa gave the girls pocket watches with trains on them and overalls for Christmas. Mary Clare was over the moon as she's wanted a watch like Porter (a character at Tweetsie Railroad) for a long time.
Margaret Rose got pink striped overalls!

Christmas continues

The girls' Godmother and neighbor extraordanairre, Sylvia, came up today and brought us all lovely gifts. Margaret Rose received a Playful Patti doll that is just too cute.

And continuing in Christmas miracle mode- Mary Clare played with the doll! She even asked me to find it some clothes and then dressed it.
Sylvia, PoPo and the girls had a great time making a gingerbread house. Predictably, MC would have eaten all the decorating candy if left unattended for 5 minutes.

Margaret Rose has the loveliest smile!

Later on we met our friends for an Italian dinner and a trip to the Lights Before (in our case "after") Christmas at the zoo. I really worried that the wheels were going to come off the wagon for Mary Clare who had not had a nap. She held it together nicely though and we all had a great time!
Here's Mary Clare and "Miss Angi". Both my girls adore Anna Lin's mom and think she is just the coolest person. I have to agree!

No Boys At My House

The girls were watching video of a children's choir while I struggled to get Mary Clare's ponytails at least on opposite sides of her head. "Are those China girls?" Mary Clare asks. I glanced up and noticed an Asian girl in the front row. "Well some of them might be but not all, " I answered and went back to trying to corral the wayward ponies once more. "There's a China boy!" MC exclaimed. "We don't have one of those," I commented. "We could go to da hotel (don't all children come from the White Swan) and get a brudder." "NO!" Margaret Rose shouted emphatically. "You don't want a brother?" I asked. Margaret looked puzzled for a minute and then said, "At my China in my house no boys." "Oh, so there aren't any little boys at Huazhou, " I answered catching on. "Just girls no little boys just one big boy," her hands indicated he was a big boy indeed probably the teenager we'd seen in her pictures. So for my girls who apparently think that children all come by way of Huazhou and the White Swan that's the end of the brother discussion. Lee will be so relieved ;-)

Do Reindeer Get Hernias?

If so I’m sure Santa’s team this year can be found at the North Pole urgent care today. Our Huazhou Wonders must have been very good this year judging from the ton of lovely presents that Santa left last night. The girls actually slept longer than we figured and poor Aa-Aa waited a good while outside in her jammies as I told her the girls were sure to be up by 6:30. She waited to come in until she saw lights inside which didn’t happen until around 7:30. Steven got there just in time for the chaos. The girls were just giddy with all their toys and though they kept an amazingly accurate tally of who got what, we were amazed how well they shared. If one picked up the other’s toy they would say, "That’s mine! You can play with it in a minute!" and in a minute they actually let the other one play. They were quite enamored of their kazoos and of their "golderemonicas" or harmonicas as the rest of the world calls them. After a bit of harmonica/kazoo action we had to wonder if perhaps there gifting was a sign that Mama and Baba had been added to Santa’s naughty list! Continuing the Christmas miracle from last night- Mary Clare actually got a blanket and covered up Margaret Rose’s baby doll. Instead of the video tape of her, I wish I had one of all of us staring at her with our mouths hanging open. Later in the morning she even played with Margaret Rose’s Barbie dolls! They both love the microphone – "Are you ready for my show?!" they took turns calling and we were treated to a holiday rendition of I’ve Been Working on the Railroad before they moved on to Jingle Bells and The Twelve Days of Christmas. There was quite a long pause in the present opening when the girls got to a marvelous musical gift from our dear friends the Hamiltons. It was a music box type mechanism that you turned by hand to get the Hundred Acre Wood animals to ring handbells. Mary Clare was particularly enchanted and enjoyed making it play a long time before deciding she had to know how it worked. We all had a great lunch ( Margaret Rose ate leftover lomein and Mary Clare ate sour cream) and continued the merrymaking well into the afternoon. The girls found Christmas cupcakes that Mom had gotten right as the sun was setting and had one last Christmas treat (Mary Clare eating the frosting and Margaret Rose eating the cake – aren’t they the perfect pair?) before collapsing from an overdose of Christmas joy before 7:00. Seeing my girls at Mass last night and in the throes of present pandemonium today has made this the best Christmas! We are so blessed to have them – as corny as it sounds they make everyday a little bit like Christmas.