What a wonderful Christmas

Christmas was really wonderful this year. It sounds strange to me to say that because we still do not have Sophia and really still have no idea when it will happen. We know for sure that she has been born and that we missed her first Christmas and that part WAS hard but the wisdom of a 6 year old put it all in prospective for me. Wendy's daughter Kate said to me don't worry kids in China don't think about Christmas they celebrate Chinese New Year... How cute.. out of the mouth's of babes.. Wendy and the girls got here on Friday evening. Early Sat morning we got up and went to Downtown Disney for the day. The girls had a great time riding the train and sitting on Santa's lap. We also had ice cream and did a little shopping, I think we all had a good time really. Sunday was filled with baking and relaxing over coffee. Monday we strolled through our downtown and then went to the Children's mass at our church. It was so beautiful.. They did a live Nativity and brought the animals right into the church. Wouldn't you know it both Kate and Claire fell asleep about one minute before they brought in the animals Oh well they got to see them outside after the mass... I have to share that at the moment when I turned to see Kate sleeping on Riz's chest I lost it. I had been very emotional all day and had been thinking about Sophia, Aidan and all our children still waiting for us and the sight of her sleeping on his chest sucking her little thumb pushed me over... Now Wendy and my mother took one look at me crying and started crying too.. we were a real mess but it was beautiful. Christmas eve the elves came and left new PJ's for the girls so they would be dressed nice for the Christmas morning pictures. Christmas morning was great, we could hear that the girls were up and just dieing to see if Santa had come. When they came downstairs their faces were priceless. The excitement was great and I have to say Kate and Claire are great at opening gifts. They both take their time and really look at what they got and then pick up the wrapping before moving on to the next gift. It was a good morning that only got better with the preparations for our dinner, prime rib all the trimmings and of course eggplant parmigiana. It was great and all the food was yummy. We opened gifts with the rest of our family that evening and were thrilled to see everyone open their gifts. We were thrilled to receive money from my mom and my in-laws to help with the trip to China for Sophia. My mom gave us the money belts we needed and we each received a travel pack for our flight it has a inflatable pillow, eye patch, ear plugs and a blanket. That will come in handy for sure on that long plan ride. One of the most special gifts this year was a hand made wooden high chair from my in-laws. They bought it while they were in North Carolina. It is beautiful and a real heirloom. . Because our family is so large so spread out we can't always get together at the same time but we heard from many on Christmas day and then on Thursday we spent an evening with my brothers, mother and niece. Friday we did our annual Christmas with our best friends Matt and Lisa and their children Ethan, Ashley and Allyson. We started doing this a few years ago waiting until after the holiday to get together it takes the pressure off of us and the kids know they still have something to look forward to. Matt and Lisa spoiled us this year and as always went over board. They also gave us a nice donation to our baby fund. They gave me the most beautiful painting of a Chinese girl looking at a Christmas ornament. We were thrilled to death with everything and the generosity of our friends and family. We appreciate you all thinking about Sophia and including her in our celebration more then you all know. One day we will share with her just how much you all loved her before she was here with us to celebrate.
Kate and Claire














Claire working her magic on Papa











Go here for the artist







He is going to be a GREAT! dad....