Holidays

Bella loved her Uncle Mike! He flew in for Christmas and was a great to have around. He slept with ear plugs as to avoid being woken up during the night and early in the morning by Bella. He helped us out a lot by cleaning up dishes, taking cute pictures of Bella, picking up lots of Bella's toys and even took us out to lunch. We loved the time he spent with us!
As you can see, Bella especially loved being "held" by him.
After church at All Saints Catholic Church, the children's program, we came home for a yummy dinner, drinks and the opening of presents.
Grandpa Joe and Tutu visited too. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit! Penny loves all the extra attention from them both Joe and Carol, but especially Carol who will play tug-o-war with her.
Bella loved being held by Grandpa Joe. He gave her the cute Christmas dress which she liked to pull up and show during church. (Note to self - put tights on under the onesie.)
This was our first Christmas in our home ever! We borrowed a tree from John & Ashley. We love the modern/retro/odd look of the tree! It was fun to have presents and a baby who really got into ripping the paper. It was definitely fun to host Christmas, to cook (well, I didn't but Matt, Joe and Carol did!) and to visit with everyone.
Bella became quite the present snooper.
She sought out all the tags and pulled them off. Penny tried this a week before too.
She loved the ribbons and tags. I just can't wait until next year when she's actually excited about what's in the box.

Since this was our first real Christmas (or what seemed like a very real Christmas), we started and borrowed some traditions. The general routine was church on Christmas Eve, followed by a hearty meal and the opening of some gifts (one for Bella before bed and the rest by adults).

Grandpa Joe made Irish soda bread. It was delicious! It was a recipe from Gypo's mother, Nellie. These are family friends of Matt's parents. We definitely want to borrow the recipe and tradition for future years. We placed a candle in the bread and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Bella loved to hear us all sing so we'll be repeating this tradition too, especially to teach Bella about the purpose and meaning of Christmas. Before dinner began, we broke bread. No, not soda bread, but wafer-like bread that you get at communion. Grandpa Joe bought some at the Polish Deli (no, you don't need to be a pastor/priest to get it; it's for everyone) and we ate it together as a celebration of Christmas dinner.
A couple of days before Christmas, I traveled to Austin to visit a friend. I rode in the car with 3 other friends - it was such a good time to sit in the car and talk for hours, literally about 8 hours of driving and talking! We had a great time visiting Kelly's new home.
We all enjoyed eating lunch and sharing stories (and pictures) with each other.
This is just a cute little picture of Bella in a hole in a "slice of swiss cheese" at Wonderwild. We took this picture after getting the dreaded Santa picture.
Matt and I met my bowling team for "Lights in the Heights." We were too late to actually help with the making of the float, but we did arrive in time to see it and to enjoy some food and drinks afterward. I just love my bowling team - it's such a mixed group of such friendly, welcoming friends.