A Christmas Tribute to Renee

6 years ago, Chris and I celebrated Christmas with half the world between us. He had flown to Iowa 3 days before Christmas to be with his family when Grandpa Kasparek passed away. I stayed in Japan and moved into the Rhinehart house to spend the holidays with Renee and Geoff. Here is a picture from our Boxing Day trip to Hakone:If there is one person besides my Mom and Rachael Ray, who have inspired me in the kitchen, it is my dear friend Renee. On Christmas morning 2003 she introduced to ham and egg on a hard roll -a little morsel of culinary heaven that has become my Christmas breakfast of choice.

We miss spending the holidays with our Japan family and hope to have another one together soon! :)

The Fun of Christmas Day

Once all those presents were opened (and we got everything out of the packaging and assembled!) it was time to PLAY! Hungry Hungry Hippos has quickly become one of Camden's favorite games.Emma asked for girl Legos and she was thrilled to see that Santa brought her some in a pink tub! We created a house and a horse carriage. :) Sewing a felt purse that was in the cool craft kit Jessi and Parker sent.

After Nana and Grandpa dug themselves out of the foot of snow that fell on Christmas Eve, we had some Skype time with them and opened presents they sent.

Camden is testing out his first marble race course we built. After a relaxing afternoon rest time, we headed outside so Camden could test out his new motorcycle. Emma got a turn behind the wheel, too!

Watch out ladies, I'm coming through.

Chris was giving me a hard time as I put together a marble race course using the diagrams that came in the box. As you can see, bigger is better in his mind. :) I think we may have one that reaches the ceiling before long!

The perfect ending to a wonderful day: cuddling on the couch and watching a movie!

Christmas Morning!

Chris and I were up before the kids on Christmas morning. I guess we were more excited than they were! Emma and Camden definitely didn't sleep in and were bounding down the stairs well before the sun rose to see what Santa brought them.

Cool new sleds! Snow White!
A shiny red firetruck!

Diego toys galore!

After breakfast, we enjoyed some time on Skype with Pops, Babi, Tim, Lori, and Cole. Emma had a tea party with Babi and Pops. Pops thought it was high time Camden join him in the Harley Davidson motorcycle club. Camden is loving his new bike! Barbie and the Three Musketeers!

The pile of gifts seemed to be endless-our friends and family definitely spoiled us!

Christmas Eve Part 2

After dinner, Emma set out Santa's cookies and Rudolph's carrot......and Camden got them some milk.
Chris read The Night Before Christmas...

...and I read the Nativity Story. Then we tucked our little angels in bed!

Christmas Eve Part 1

We spent a quiet Christmas Eve day at home and then got in our fine holiday attire for Christmas Eve Mass. Camden and Emma humored me and posed for some pictures outside

All of Emma's hard work practicing Silent Night paid off-

she was a wonderful singer at church!

We wanted a good seat to see Emma sing...our only option was right in the front row. Our usual seats for Mass are in the back of the "family room" so you can guess how well these seats went over!

After church we made pizza-our Christmas Eve tradition!

This is what Christmas is all about!

4 Generations of Christmas Cookies

As for our holiday baking, we saved the best for last: Granny's Christmas Cookies. I still can't get them to taste quite like my mom's (I'm going to blame it on a different oven), but Santa is going to love the extra special cookies that Emma & Camden set aside for him.

Emma was playing pizza chef with the leftover dough

(She means business with this face!)
"One pizza dough ready for the oven!"

Camden looks like the crazy old baker chasing someone out of his kitchen! :)

Our masterpieces!

Meeting Cole

Thanks to the magic of Skype, we got to meet Cole last night. He is so adorable and we all wish we could have reached into the screen and held him. Camden and Emma thought kissing him on the screen would be just fine. :) If Camden sees any newborn baby, he says, "That's Cole!" We can't wait for more Skype playdates with our nephew/cousin!