The End of Hanukkah...

Hanukkah ended on December 28th, after eight days of fun presents and dreidel games and lots of chocolate.  Here are Hodel and me with our last few Hanukkah presents: a paddleball game, a yo-yo, and treasure boxes with penguins on them to keep some of our presents in!

 

We finally got to light all eight candles on the menorah, which I was really excited about!  I couldn't wait to see them all lit up.  Hodel put the lit menorah in the window, and it looked so, so beautiful.  We even got a little bit of snow that night, so it was even more perfect!

I loved celebrating Hanukkah this year.  I want to have a Hanukkah party next year and teach all my friends how to play dreidel!

Christmas Cameras

Wow, I've really gotten behind on blogging over this last week - Hodel and I have been having way too much fun playing with our Christmas and Hanukkah gifts.  I want to share some pictures Hodel and I took back on Christmas Day with our new cameras!  We got all dressed up in our fancy Christmas dinner dresses and took portraits in front of the tree.  Here is the photo I took of Hodel:

Doesn't she look sooo pretty in bright red?  I think it is one of her best colors!  Here is the picture Hodel took of me:

I tried to take a picture of Hodel while she was about to take a picture of me!  I was faster and got her first. :-)  I am loving my new camera!

  

I hope you're not too tired of holiday posts, because I still have a few Hanukkah and New Years pictures to share, too!

Christmas Morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday!  Hodel and I sure did.  We got up early and went running out to the living room to see if Santa had been here...and he had!

There were lots of exciting-looking presents...we hardly knew where to start, so we just picked the closest present and tore into it!

 

"Look!  I got a scarf!" I exclaimed.  

"And I got a dog mug!" said Hodel.

 

"It's a stuffed mouse!" cried Hodel, as she tried to free the little mouse from his wrapping.

"Oh my gosh!!!  A camera!" I shrieked.  "A digital camera - a real, grown up one that's not made for just kids!  I can't believe it!"  I'd put one on my list, but I didn't think I'd really get it!!

 

Then Hodel unwrapped a red scarf, and I got a penguin mug!

I got a stuffed husky dog, and Hodel went nuts because she got a camera, too!

 

Then we had one present left, something pretty big in a long box...and I started hoping maybe it was a doll...and it was!!  I got a little blonde doll with a Hello Kitty shirt and toy, and Hodel got a brunette doll with a Snoopy shirt and toy!

When the presents were all opened, we relaxed on the couch with some candy cane tea in our new mugs.  What a fantabulous Christmas morning this was!!

All is Calm, All is Bright...

Well, we put out cookies and milk for Santa Claus and fruits and veggies for his reindeer...now all we have to do is go to bed and wait for him to come.

Hodel brought the recipe for these gingerbread cookies - don't they look so tasty?  We did sample a few...but we saved most of them for Santa. :-) 

The Christmas tree always looks so magical on Christmas Eve night...I wish I could just sleep on the couch or on the floor in front of it so I could fall asleep looking at the lights.  But of course, if I did that Santa might not come, because he would be afraid of waking me up when he tried to leave the presents.  So I'll be good and sleep in my bed. :-)

Merry almost Christmas from Hodel and me! :-)

Christmas Eve Rocks!

Wow, wow, wow - we had the best surprise EVER when we woke up on this Christmas Eve morning.  And what was it??  I'll let a picture do the talking:

 

Yes, that's right - it finally snowed!!  The weather people kept saying we probably wouldn't get any before Christmas, but it looks like they were wrong.  I peeked out the window right after I got up and couldn't believe my eyes!  Hodel and I were afraid it might melt quickly because it was already looking a little bit soft and tired early in the morning, so we threw off our pajamas and bundled up and ran outside to play in it, before we even ate our breakfast!

We wanted to build a snowman, but sadly the snow was not good packing snow.  You need thick, wet snow for that, and this was very dry snow and it wouldn't stick together.  So no snowmen or snow forts...but you can always make snow angels no matter what!

 

We were pretty soaked after that, so we had to go inside and eat our cinnamon rolls and change into dry clothes.  It's a good thing we went out and enjoyed the snow so early, though, because the sun came out and melted most of it by the afternoon.  So we read lots of Christmas books and watched Christmas specials.

Then we played another game of dreidel, and guess what - I finally, finally won!!  I couldn't believe it for a minute, then I shrieked!  Hodel cried "Nooooo!" very dramatically, but she wasn't really upset, she was just being silly. :-)

Now we have to go put some cookies in the oven to leave out for Santa tonight! 

On the Fourth Day of Hanukkah....

We got blue bead bracelets. :-)  Hodel's is dark blue and mine is light blue!

Also, today is Christmas Eve Eve!  Tomorrow is my favorite day of the whole year...I like it even better than Christmas Day, because there is so much anticipation and excitement.  When Christmas finally arrives, there is already that little bit of a letdown feeling that it's going to be over soon, you know?  But right now there is nothing but excitement. :-)

On the Third Day of Hanukkah...

Tonight we got little wooden decorations for our rooms - I got a penguin and Hodel got a shooting star!  And I lost every game of dreidel, again!  Whatever happened to beginner's luck, anyway? :-)