Ally played an angel in our church's pageant; the girls performed Victorian dances
at several open houses; we had breakfast with Santa once again

We decorated the house of course, with trees for upstairs and downstairs

On Christmas Eve, we dressed up and went to my mother's house for dinner and presents

My mom particularly enjoyed the photo calendar we put together for her

I actually like getting ties as presents; me and my folks' dog, Beatrix

On Christmas morning at our house, we open presents from each other and from Santa. 
The big guy brought Ally a bike this year 

Joni's mom and little sister Alice stayed over this year; owls are Alice's favorite animal...

...while spiders are Ally's, so we got her a remote-controlled tarantula. 
Beth loves books, and I like the Steelers (and beer) 

Ally with loot and Beth with a new Asterix book. If you've never ever read Asterix, you're really missing out

While everyone opens their stuff, our cat Clawdia fails to understand what the big deal is

That's a lot of loot!

Later on Christmas Day, we had the rest of Joni's family over for dinner. 
Maggie and Dimitri, Joni's niece and nephew, had a good time opening presents

Maggie and Dimi's dad Garry, our friend Rayven, and Joni's sister Liz; our friend Ona; 
Ally likes her new shirt and necklace

Maggie and new haircut; Uncle Jerry; Joni's nephew Freddy, the son of her brother Andrew

Mia, Freddy's sister; Garry with daughter Tasha (in purple) and Liz's daughter Molly (in black)

It goes without saying that if you give a small boy Thing hands, he will immediately pummel his dad

The big news this year was that Andrew and his girlfriend Shannon are engaged;
At dinner, Liz's husband Lee and Garry knew they were going to act up, so 
they sat themselves at "the kids' table"

After everyone left, Joni and the girls played
Ally's new High School Musical game