Calista's Joy School Christmas Program

After being postponed once, we had the Calista's Joy School Christmas Program on December 30th. We had her all prepped to be an Inn Keeper, but since the person who was supposed to be Mary was sick, she was able to be Mary. She was thrilled (as you can see in one of the videos as she tells Mommy she got to be Mary). If you click through the album to watch the videos you'll also be able to see how at the end of the program best friends and greatest rivals Calista and Mykelle decapitated the poor baby in the manger.

"Christmas" Snow

Calista started crying Christmas morning when she looked outside and saw there wasn't snow. She was pleased when it started snowing the next day, and then when we awoke Monday the 27th to two feet of snow. When she saw it, she declared it "Christmas". So we had an extended Christmas! :) She had fun playing in the snow with her next-door-neighbor friend Krisha and Mykelle and Evan Winger.

Christmas Day

We awoke to see Santa had visited. He tried to be generous in his gifts as Jesus was in his greatest of all gifts. We enjoyed opening presents, playing with new toys, reading new books, eating a tasty breakfast, and then going to the church for a Christmas dinner.

Christmas Eve

We had a pleasantly surprising visit from Karl and Jolene and kids who came up to see NYC at christmas. They went into the city the 23rd and stayed over that night. Then we all went in to the city and browsed around the city, mostly just visiting FAO Schwarz. It was a great time.

In the evening, Mykelle and Evan Winger came over and played. We had a good time and finished our evening by having an "activity" (what Calista calls the nativity for some reason), and lit the angel chimes. It was a pleasant evening, and both girls promptly went to sleep and stayed in bed in anticipation for some magic to happen overnight.

Ice Skating

We went to the "Nutcracker on Ice" at the ice skating rink on Montclair's campus. It ended up being more of a skating recital with children, and then some amateurs and professionals in the second portion of the program. Calista loved it and couldn't wait to go ice skating. We took her the following week and as she would admit, she got a little scared. She got in mind to get help from a new friend named Heather.

(Be sure to click on the slideshow to link to the album so you can watch the videos.)

Christmas Open House (8th Annual)

This week has been a busy one with Jerry finishing up his semester and preparing for our annual Christmas Open House. As Danae and I discussed this week, it's a good thing we've been doing this each year because at least our house gets cleaned once a year! :) Anyway, we were glad to have so many come. We welcomed several of Jerry's work colleagues, friends from church, and our special guests Ed and Eleanore (Jerry's Mom's cousin). In all, including our family, we had about 80 people in our house last night! We don't have many pictures as we were busy with our guests. To all who came and all who are far, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

P.S. You'll notice from our pictures that we finally put up some pictures in our house!
P.S.S. With a little break coming up, I hope to put up some older posts with pictures within the next couple weeks.