Christmas Eve morning - we are at the birthday party and forgetting about Santa for awhile. Xhulian (pronounced "Julian" - it's an Albanian spelling) plays happily at my sister's house.
Stella struggles with her baby (also at my sister's).
Back at our house Xheson (pronounced "Jason") cuddles with Stella). These boys are her uncles...because they are Erik's younger brothers (children of Erik's dad and his wife). They all just moved here from Italy...it's kind of a long story.
The Christmas Eve FROM SCRATCH gingerbread house-making tradition is begun.
Nobody wants to go to bed because Santa is coming.
And so we read, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas...", and before we knew it...
...Christmas morning was here.
Santa was so good to us.
Stella loved the picture that Xheson painted for Erik.
She gets a little stovetop espresso maker so she can be just like Daddy in the morning.
And this was from the Big Man himself, left under the tree unwrapped.
Time for stockings.
Let's go play with all of our new cool stuff.
As Stella would say (when she hasn't voluntarily plugged herself up), Aawshum (as in, Awesome).
Time to get dressed for Christmas Day guests and dinner!
The men wait for the meal...
Stella sets the table.
Christmas night has come.
And we greet Christmas night with full bellies...
...lots of mulled wine...
...and lots of love.
Merry Christmas, Baby.
1 comment:
Stella is just amazingly beautiful, Cristina! I love seeing all these photos! And her room looks so different now- toy shelves, no playmat, a table and chairs set, and a big big girl bed (or is that a guest bed?) :) Looks like a fun place to play! Hope you're enjoying the lovely Austin springtime. It's just getting started here- the daffodils just bloomed this week.
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