Christmas- on Auburn Ave!!

we are back on track since our christmas illness so here goes:



With friends Eliana and Benjamin after the Christmas Eve service-


Prepped for the big morning... stockings stuffed and train track assembled. Cookies nibbled, carrots eaten, milk slurped, tree trimmed. Mom nowhere in sight as Don and Maury wrap feverishly... she is off playing the big guy around the neighborhood!



bundled- a white christmas for sure!



first christmas!





Maury was here to share our first Christmas at our new Home!! Thanks Mom. It would have been so lonely without you here but you made the holiday for us.





After all was said and done, it took until 6pm for Madeline to get through all the gifts. She was methodical and wanted to play with each one as she opened it. As Ashia was still sick from the bug the night before, we skipped monkey bread and prime rib and saved it for the next day. When we finally feasted, it was a treat. We had monkey bread, sausage, juice and coffee for breakfast and for dinner roasted potatoes, standing rib roast and steamed veggies. With stuffed bellies, we were still able to have our neighbors over the third morning of Christmas (the 26th) for pancake puffs in chocolate chip or blueberry varieties. Whew- chrismtas was saved!

And finally... a little Chrismtas tale.
After adopting the tradition of playing santa for the kids on xmas eve and delivering a small gift, Ashia went out and shared the love with some neighbors' kids. It was an amazing thing to be able to do that for other families and it really went over well. Even the couple on our block with college-aged kids got in on it bc their house was the dressing station. This email just came in to thank us for the treat and i thought i'd share it here:

Ashia,

Thank you thank you thank you! Jack was so so excited. He kept yelling, "It's a Christmas Miracle!" When Santa told him to go right to bed, he really did. We didn't hear a peep from him until 7:30 the next day! What a wonderful tradition. Hopefully it was worth all the hard work you did, I know it made our Christmas absolutely perfect.

Thanks,

Heather

It was a great holiday for this Mann family. We cant wait to build on these traditions next year!