Christmas '09 - Better Late Than Never

After much procrastination, here goes:

Our second Santa sighting this year came at Megan's preschool party. Since nearly half of her classmates are little Irish kids (with little accents to go with their feckles), I shouldn't have been surprised that the Santa they rounded up had an accent himself. No questions so far from Megan as to why the Santa at school asked her, "And what would ya be likin' Santa Claus to bring you this year?" Maybe she didn't even notice since she was so focused on her answer - "Belle!!"

Our real Christmas celebrations began on the 23rd, and lasted until the 27th. Each one of those days, we schlepped everyone and all of the necessary stuff to different parties - you'd have thought we were leaving the house for a couple days each time, between pajamas, changes of clothes, food for the babies, diapers, etc. And, we had to make sure the girls were looking cute each day, too, of course! So, after coming home exhausted, past 10pm every night, we still had to wash a load of tights and appropriate Christmas outfits to get ready for the next day.

And, fitting naps in with all of the excitement was tricky, but a must, mostly for me and Matt! Thankfully, Matt was home on break, and we all had a great time! How do other moms do it when their husbands don't have the schedule of a high school student?? We're very lucky that he's home so much. But, I digress.


Christmas '09 began with the annual Stecher lunch downtown, this year at Capp's Corner in North Beach. Here are the girls before we left for lunch:

Tessa

Annie

After a wonderful lunch, we took the opportunity to get some shots of all 12 grandchildren.

After that, we tried to get a good picture of the six of us.

The girls were fascinated with the "castle" behind the park.

I guess Sts. Peter and Paul is a little more impressive looking than St. Stephen's. So, we aimed for some good shots of the girls in front of the "castle," carefully avoiding the homeless and their shopping carts in the background. Gotta love the "big city," which the girls were calling San Francisco all day. Yes, we live about 15 minutes away from North Beach, but how often do we go down there? Never. Any trip north of Megan's school qualifies as the exciting "big city." Sad, but true.

The following day, we celebrated Christmas Eve at Chris and Amy's, with not even one picture to show for it. We were too busy wrangling babies and limiting juice spills to whip the camera out. But, the girls went right to bed as soon as we got home, thanks to all of the running around with their cousins (or the threat of Santa not stopping at our house if kids were awake!).

And then came Christmas morning, which came in two shifts for us. If we're lucky, the babies will go back to sleep after their 6am feeding, and this is what happened on Christmas morning. So, they were still snoozing peacefully when Megan and Bridget raced downstairs. We had two very excited kids!! But, the most heartwarming moment? Not even halfway through opening Santa presents, Megan paused to collect her gift to Bridget from under the tree. So sweet, right? (Or, maybe she just really wanted Bridget to open that Ariel waterslide for the bathtub.) Regardless, it was cute to have them exchange presents this year, and something we'll do again next year!

Megan and Bridget loved their princess dolls (and too many other toys to detail!):

When the babies woke up, they had their own little moment:

Later, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas dinner, where this was just one of the kids' tables:

The next day, the fun continued when Mop and Pop came to town,

As for the kids' table that night, we had a slightly smaller crowd:

Of course, the highlight of the night was Uncle Kyle/monster/pirate. Here they are taking a break from running around to read (gasp!). As you can see, Uncle Kyle's not quite in his element when reading ;)

Pop with Annie (I think. Anyone prepared to argue that it's Tessa? Didn't think so.)

And, finally, on the 27th, we headed to the east bay to get together with the entire Field Family for our Christmas party. Having it after Christmas makes it possible for nearly everyone to be there. Lots of kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. And, Santa! The kids got the chance to thank him for all of their presents :)

Whew!

I hope everyone had a great holiday!! Thank you to everyone who hosted us and all of our kids and their gear this year!!!!