Ever since we've had kids, we've gone with our friends the Wnuk-Finks, and their kids, 
to "Breakfast with Santa." The kids are getting older, so this year we did "Lunch with Santa"
--and Mrs. Claus--at a seafood place near our house

That's Katy (who's a year younger than Ally) and
Ryan (a year older than Beth) with Mr. and Mrs. C.

Another tradition we have with the Wnuk-Finks is getting together before Christmas
to swap presents. Our mutual friends the Eibels come every year, too. 
I was the picture of masculinity as I sipped wine and cuddled the W-F's little dog

One of the presents (courtesy of the Eibels) was a SingStar game, which complements our
still-raging addiction to the video game Rock Band. Speaking of video, who needs a real fire 
when you can have one on the big-screen TV?

A few days later, it was Xmas Eve, when we always
give our girls a new set of "Christmas pajamas"

Then, as we traditionally do, we went to my mother's house for Christmas Eve dinner and presents.
My Aunt Waltraud was visiting from Germany

Loot! Loot! Loot!

Joni and the girls made my mother this stone, decorated with tiles, for her garden

Nick got about eight pairs of shoes. Literally. Ally likes bugs, so she really liked getting a ceramic dragonfly

For most of her life, Waltraud has wanted a black leather skirt. When she found that my mother had
bought her one, she burst into tears. The old softy.

On Christmas morning, the kids discovered that Santa had left Ally a bike and Beth an electric guitar

Ally got a book on her favorite breed, and I got one of my favorite movies

I managed to get in some Xmas-morning photos of Joni (no easy feat)

Joni got me some Rock Band stuff and a book based off one of my favorite websites

My neighbor Andy gave me this way-cool retro Pittsburgh
Penguins jersey, but Cougar thought the guitar box was better