Let the Holidays Begin!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and hosted two gatherings, one small and one large. Activities included....

Skyping with the family in MD/VA during their party;

Playing "race down the stairs on your hiny!"

Eating lots of yummy food, and running around the house with cousins Truman, Hank, and Angela;

Then, today, a chance came to meet Santa for the first time. It was so cold outside in line, so Anthony and B. snuck into the pizza place to warm up. Someone we knew inside offered her a free slice so she came back in line with a full belly.

Okay, I admit it. I would've bet a million dollars that she would NOT have gone within 2 feet of the bearded guy. I even sent Anthony and her off without me, but fortunately reconsidered, unwilling to miss the very slim chance that she'd cooperate. And she did.....

No tears, no jumping off. She told him she wants "Barney" for Christmas, said "thank you," and headed home with a candy cane and frosted Christmas tree cookie.

Beatrice noticed the Christmas lights and decorations being up downtown and really is anxious to see them. I think it's going to be a magical season with this 2 year old this year!

Nanook, Knots, The Most Patient Dog in the World, and Uncle Moe

Those that Didn't Make the Cut...

Beautiful morning sunshine + Christmas dress arriving in the mail= Time to take Christmas photo! I snapped about 30 of them in ten minutes this past weekend. We finally narrowed it to THE ONE, which is not shown here, but these are some of my faves (and more expressive ones) from the shoot....

Raingirl: A Montage

Two signs that Beatrice has been photographed A LOT are that I just got a warning that my startup disk is almost full (6,000+ photos will do that I guess), and that she wanders around quite often with our cheapo digital camera flashing away, sometimes asking us to say "cheese," and other times completely unbeknownst to us. I recently plugged in this camera to download a few things, and I noticed 105 pictures or videos that I had no recognition of, and some which clearly needed to be censored and/or forever deleted! Anthony and I roared when we saw the world through Beatrice's eyes. Move over Annie Liebowitz...

Letting Her Hair Down