A Visit From Willie the Elf

While the girls were visiting their grandparents, Willie the elf came and hauled out the holly in their room. Even Doug the Dragon is in the Christmas spirit now. Willie left these spiffy new holiday aprons too! We hear they may come in handy when the head elf in charge finally makes his appearance.

Lee found Mary Clare's "My First Christmas" hat in Boone this weekend. Margaret Rose was a good sport and let us jam it on her head for one picture.

One Year Ago Today...

we saw our Margaret Rose's beautiful smile for the first time. We weren't even looking to adopt again so soon and MC and I were talking about a little brother when the time did come. The weekend before, however, we went out to eat and to the zoo with our friends who had recently adopted a 4 year old. We were all so impressed with the fabulous Anna Lin! So on Thursday night while I was waiting for a file to transfer over to my video camera I checked my yahoo groups. I don't even remember joining the Heritage Adoption group but their homepage said they had a new list of waiting children and I just had to have a peek. And there she was - Ji Lan Tong from the Huazhou SWI and oh but she had the most gorgeous little face. I remember calling out to Lee, "Hey! How'd you like a 4 year old from Huazhou?" and being surprised that he actually came to the computer and looked. "Ask for her file, " he said and I did and got it that same night from the wonderful Peggy at Heritage. By Saturday night we'd decided to adopt her only to find out on Sunday that she had quite a few people interested in her and her file would have to go through the petition process. We almost didn't petition as Lee declared us "old and broke" but friends from our first travel group encouraged us to give it a try. We faxed our application and a letter of interest and were quite sure we'd not be chosen. We went to a Christmas party on the 20th and after dinner I felt my phone vibrate. I took Mary Clare outside with me and found out in the driveway of Nana Pearl's house that we were getting a new daughter. I scooped up Mary Clare ran in and whispered to Lee, "They chose us!" "For what?" he asked. "For Lan Tong!" We were glad that we were with so many of our loved ones and that they could share in that unbelievable moment of joy.

How Lovely Are Your Branches

So tonight we finally did our tree decorating. One of the girls' Godmother - our favorite neighbor-came for dinner and helped and the girls had a wonderful time. Margaret Rose acts like an old pro at this - she knows just how its done. At one point she commented that she had one of these "in my China." You had a Christmas tree in China??? She laughed and grinned and admitted that she didn't. Sometimes I think she blurs what her China was really like and what she wants it to have been. She still talks about her friends but is a little fuzzy on some of the names now and that frustrates her. Margaret Rose picked Mary Clare up several times so that she could decorate some higher branches. It's so funny to see as they are virtually the same size. They both helped Baba put the star on top. Mary Clare insisted on a star. We've had an angel for the last few years but it didn't suit. She was quite adamant that a star belonged on top and so we trekked out last night and after several stores finally found the last star in a tri-county area. After the tree was decorated we all sang "Oh Christmas Tree!" and admired our handiwork. Margaret Rose - the decorating expert. Martha Stuart has nothing on her.

Hey! Unto you a child is born!

And here's Mary Clare as Gladys Herdman from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever- talk about type casting.

Pig In A Skirt

Mary Clare adores the Toot & Puddle books by Holly Hobbie. I brought home the Christmas one and PoPo read it to her tonight. I heard MC just shrieking with laughter and went in to discover that Toot in a skirt (it was a kilt and totally appropriate for his Scottish holiday but I'm not telling) was the funniest thing she'd ever seen. She laughted until she nearly fell off the bed. Toot and Puddle: I'll be Home For Christmas will obviously be THE choice for bedtime reading this season.

The girls just can't wait to decorate the tree! We're having our little tree decorating dinner on Thursday but they've just got to get a few things up before then. We thought we'd get to see Margaret Rose's first experience with a tree but she is old hat at this and is telling us just how it needs to be done. Her school has 2 trees and as it turns out she's been a part of decorating them both so now she's our little expert!

O Christmas Tree!

Margaret Rose's kindergarten made a trip to this tree farm last week so we decided we'd give it a try. We thought we'd choose a tree that grows in South Carolina instead of the faiser fir that we usually get from the Boone area. Well we won't make that mistake again. We couldn't find anything that would even make good shrubbery and we certainly weren't paying $40+ for something that even Charlie Brown would laugh. We ended up selecting a fraiser fir that they'd imported from their farm in North Carolina. Go figure.

Mary Clare wore her Rudolph overalls for probably the last time. We'll be sad to see them go but they've made it through 2 Christmas seasons so I'd say we did pretty well. This year MC asked PoPo to sew a tail on the back for Rudolph and she was quite pleased with the result.

Despite the lack of acceptable trees, the girls had a good time on a wagon ride of the farm and playing on the playground.

What a great Saturday! Aa-Aa came for a visit and we had a pizza lunch. Then the girls made tiny little Christmas trees for their room.We ended the day by a trip to the old park down the block. I don't know when they decided to be Pooh and Miss Bee but they're awfully cute!

PPE

Mary Clare continues to enjoy her daycare free days and looks so forward to crafing with PoPo.

Today she wore her "holiday Hopper" overalls and made a pompom redbird from a Chicken Socks book and then freestyled her on Purple People Eater critter. She and Mom worked on it secretly and she kept hollering, "Don't come in Mom! Not yet! We almost done!" She was so proud of her PPE!

And here is lovely Margaret Rose home from school and enjoying hot chocolate!

My little Rudolphs

We found a McCalls christmas craft magazine from 1969 on ebay and Mom has been busy recreating for the girls some of the felt ornaments she made me as a child. They enjoy picking out the embellishments like sequins and pompoms.
























Then the girls got the idea of embellishing themselves. Oh the wonders of duct tape!

Sewing Lesson & A Parade

Margaret Rose got her first sewing lesson before Mass this morning. With a little help from PoPo she did a good job sewing a button on her shirt.Here's Margaret Rose posing in one of her new Christmas dresses. She just loves being pretty!

The other picture is of Mary Clare "helping" PoPo with her therapy.

I took the girls to the local Christmas parade this evening. It was a last minute thing as I felt guilty that there was a parade four blocks away. Lee had work he needed to get done for school but drove us to the bottom of the hill so that we might have time to find a place to sit. We realized at the last minute that I'd left my phone at home and there'd be no way for Lee to know when to come back for us. I told him we'd just walk but really wasn't looking forward to it. A very nice family let us sit behind them on the sidewalk and the girls were unbelievably good while we waited for the parade to begin. They LOVED it! It's a nightime parade so there are lots of lights. Margaret Rose moved down to sit right on the street side and started collecting candy. She was so good to turn around and share with Mary Clare. When it was all over I grabbed them tightly by the hand and tried to navigate the crowd. Mary Clare kept saying, "Come on Maggie Rose! Our feet are taking us home!" and they were both cooperative and in good spirits. We actually spotted a payphone (surely the last of its kind) and called home where Mom relayed our coordinates to Lee who had gone out to look for us. It was a nice evening and I'm really glad I took the girls. You'll notice in the pictures below that Mary Clare has started giving the stereotypical Chinese "peace sign" gesture in pictures. Margaret Rose insisted on taking a picture of me and MC. I think she did a good job.

A Visit To Santa

We had our 6 month post placement meeting for Margaret Rose today. We met at our friends' house who were having their first meeting for their newest daughter. We love our social worker. She defines the word efficient which is what let us get Margaret Rose (from seeing her picture to Gotcha Day) in a little over 6 months. The girls enjoyed playing together while we took care of business and then we went over to the mall to see Santa. Margaret Rose has been hearing about Santa for awhile now and seems to be taking it all in stride. Well of course some strange man in a funny suits flies a team of reindeer around the world, lands on your roof, slides down your chimney and leaves you presents - this is America. She loves singing "Here Comes Santa Claus" and routinely admonishes us that "Santa Claus is coming to town!" Mary Clare is another story. She likes the jolly ole elf but only from a distance. She warmed up a little last year on the train trip as they had a fantastic Santa - very low key, quiet and gentle. Last night she was all excited about going to see him but as we got closer today she started to climb up my leg and looked terrified. A told Angi that Anna Lin and MR should go and I'd stay back with MC but she somehow worked her magic and got Anna Lin and MR to hold MC between them and then distracted her until it was their turn. Somehow the influence of big sister and her friend worked and she actually sat on his lap and talked to him. And we even got a picture of her looking at the camera!
So what did our girls ask Santa for? Margaret Rose would like a doll with clothes - pretty clothes please and she mentioned that the doll was cold just in case Santa thought of bringing a naked baby doll. Mary Clare asked for a train, a blue stick with a white hand and a coconut bra - yep you read that right. Hope the reindeer don't mind making a stop in Tahiti before landing in SC.