The McDonalds arrive for a Virginia Christmas!

Hooray!  Bebe, Popi and Uncle Patrick arrived Christmas afternoon to celebrate a Virginia Christmas!  Daddy made a fantastic roast just like Katrina's Oma used to make, surrounded by delicious mushrooms and bacon.  

 The family settles down for another round of presents!

Even Dolly is enjoying Christmas in Virginia. 

 

 

Popi and Bebe open up their presents from Evie and Ellie. Evie went on a shopping spree and got a new grilling set for Popi and a craft jewelry box for Bebe.  They also made some homemade ornaments to hang on their tree. 

 

 

The next night we had a delicious dinner at Ba and Opa's after a fun morning in DC at the Newseum and seeing the sights in the city.  

 

Christmas Morning and Santa has Arrived!

 Hooray!  It's Christmas morning and the girls tumbled downstairs in their matching pajamas to investigate if Santa had stopped by. Evie was delighted that there was no coal in her stocking - just good ol' bubble bath, crayons and play-doh. 

Look at this cutie's face as she pulls out the items from her stocking! 

 

Evie and Ellie celebrate new toothbrushes from Santa with a hug!

 

Ellie also loved hugging all her presents - who knew Colorforms would go over so well! 

 

What? A book about Ellie's Christmas?  How apropos! 

We get cleaned up and take our traditional Christmas family pictures on the staircase when Ba and Opa arrive.

Ah, next year's Christmas card for Ba and Opa!

Our dancing Ellie celebrates the arrival of the Loving Family Winnebago.  

Christmas Eve Foelsche-Style

On Christmas Eve we headed over to Ba and Opa's for our annual Foelsche Christmas Eve tradition. This year we were joined by Ba Co, Uncle Minh, Aunty Mailan and Uncle Tung, Aunty Michelle and Uncle Phil, Uncle Pierre and tons of (now almost grown) kids: Terry, Kevin, Talia, Eric, and the small kids, Elizabeth and Elias.  Whew, what a celebration! 

We got out the candles to do our tradition singing of "Holy Night, Silent Night"... 

... that even Talia and Eric were convinced to join in along with Ellie, Evie, Elias and Elizabeth (a lot of E's in this family!).

  

Not sure what Ellie is doing- probably another silly face egged on by her sister.

Ellie is thrilled with her new Itty Bitty Baby doll, Emma.  She liked carrying her from the pigtails - ah, what mommy intuition. 

When Christmas songs are on, our little girl just has to get out on the dance floor!

The whole family gathers for a group picture. Surprised we could all fit in!

There's no Place Like Home for the Holidays

The best part of the holidays?  Why, welcoming many guests and friends to our warm adobe.  To prepare, Ellie and Evie help Ba make some delicious monkey bread that was enjoyed over the next couple of days. 

 

 Later on Monday we were joined by Aunty Mel, Uncle Brian and Amelia, and special guest Aunty Lill as well!  The girls enjoyed some holiday cheer running around the house and opening up their gifts a little early by the tree.  Amelia gave us a beautiful handmade Christmas plate to commemorate the holiday.

Ellie opened up her present from Aunty Lill and put her new down vest on immediately - she is so fashion forward! 

While  Amelia models her new bear hat and paw slippers to everyone's delight! 

Who are these two Christmas elves?!? What a lovely visit! 

Trains rolling into the World Fair!

We continued our annual tradition of heading over to the US Botanical Gardens to view the train exhibit and this time brought Opa and Ba along.  Above, Evie and Ellie take a closer look and feel the natural materials used in all the wonderful creations.

Ellie thought the bark felt really cool.  

This year's theme was the World Fair as the artists recreated some monuments and landmarks from World Fairs, like Chicago's Ferris Wheel from the Exhibition that year. Above, Ellie is under her big sister's influence in terms of making silly faces.  

Oh, dear.  Even exclamations of the Fancy Nancy Eiffel Tower couldn't keep these girls from hamming it up for the camera. 

Family picture - with the Seattle Space Needle sprouting from Daddy's head! 

Ba and Opa get one decent photo with the kids before the silly faces return! 

Celebrating the Holidays at School

Mommy took some time off work to celebrate the holidays at Evie and Ellie's schools.  First up was the holiday sing at MHCP, where the 2-year-olds sat in awe by the crowd while "singing" Jingle Bells.  Ellie eventually remembered to shake her bells. 

Our little performer gave Ba a big hug at the end of her performance! 

We pause to pose with other angels, including London, Bryn (with red-nose) and mom Jeanna.  

Mom, Ellie and Ba pose for a picture! 

Then on Wednesday, Mommy got to attend Evie's holiday party where we ate delicious snowman cookies, meringue trees, and cookies.  Mom read the story how Katy saved the day with her big snow plow.  Above Evie works on her craft - a beautiful snowman.  

 

Evie introduced Mom to "Snowflake," her class's elf on the shelf, who was taking a nice marshmallow bubble bath! 

McDonald Family Christmas

We traveled up to New Jersey to kick off the holiday celebrations "McDonald-style" - with elf hats and Popi's famous meatballs. All the cousins were in town and ready for some holiday cheer! 

 

Evie helped by playing Santa and distributing gifts to Stan and her cousins. 

 

Ellie is excited to open a new box of grocery items to stock her play kitchen. 

 

The big surprise was a new puppet theatre for the kids.  Evie schedules the next show while Bebe acts out their first play!  Just steps away from the 

The rest of the clan shows off our bounty from the grab bag exchange. 

 

Ellie takes a break from the festivities for a ride on Daddy's shoulders. 

We celebrate Aunty Karen's birthday with some delicious cupcakes. What a wonderful day with the family! 

Getting on board the gingerbread train...

We have been having a great couple of days celebrating Christmas by going gingerbread crazy! When an ice storm came on Sunday, we made a mini snow village and decorated it with all sorts of candies.  

Ellie was also happy to help out by picking off candies off the roof.

 Then on Wednesday we had friends over to celebrate with a gingerbread house playdate!  London and Ellie were so cute playing together.  They held hands as Ellie took her around to show her the tree.

 Evie goes to work on her gingerbread house - later adding in some blue and green frosting to the mix.

Leah Claire and Gracie sample the frosting and maybe a little candy while decorating their houses. 

Lia is all smiles as she adds some extra frosting to make sure her house's foundation is strong. 

Caroline puts her roof together while Bryn decorates her with gumdrops.

Ellie decides to create a candy garden to go in front of her sister's house. 

The girls loved the chocolate fondue and couldn't get enough, as one could see from their chocolate faces at the end of the night.