Home for the Holidays

We had a very laid back Christmas around here, which was just what the doctor ordered.  The festivities started with our church's pageant on Christmas eve, a very casual affair.  Frances played a star, which she thought was just nifty because she got to wave around a big stick with a star on the end.  (The church has to find roles for about 200 kids, so they get a little creative.)  Frances is one of the stars toward the right of the picture.

The most memorable part for me was when Frances decided she wanted to stand around the chancel with the priests.  Mean old mom was not accommodating, so Frances took it upon herself to throw herself over the communion rail, red tulle dress and all.  She only got one leg over the railing, but it was not for lack of trying.  This was during the pageant, mind you.  

Christmas morning it snowed just a tad.  I had really hoped for serious snow.  I mean, if we're staying in Boston rather than going home to Arkansas for Christmas, we at least deserve a white Christmas, that was my thinking.  I was obliged, but just barely.

Here's Frances, mid-opening.  You gotta dress properly for these things.

Mark and I have been talking about building a gingerbread house since long before Frances was born.  We even drew up plans once.  It has never happened.  This year, Trader Joe's came to our rescue with a gingerbread house kit, a perfect way to kill time while dinner cooked.  Frances helped her dad brace the walls/roof and managed to eat frosting at the same time.  Talented kid.

Here's the finished product.

We were all quite pleased with the finished product.  It took less than 30 minutes to construct, and in the end we got to eat it.  Perfect entertainment for a three year old and her architect father.

Dinner took considerably longer than 30 minutes to prepare.  Mark was most proud of his ham with red pepper jelly - delicious.

I was most proud of a Brown Sugar-Cranberry tart - also delicious, if I do say so, but we didn't get pictures of that.  We were a little negligent about pictures in general, but we were doing a lot of cooking.  The plus side is that we had lots of food to freeze, in preparation for when the next kiddo comes along and no one wants to be cooking!