Merry Christmas Eve!

Its sad. I spent my first night away from Daniel and Maria last night - and I think Momma was sadder than they were. OK.....they weren't sad at all. They were at Babooshka and Dyadooshka's house with all of the cousins, gifts from extended family, and every time I talked to them there was much joy and happy sounds coming to the phone. Daniel could barely break away from the fun long enough to talk to his Momma on the phone. It IS so sad!

Did hear a cute Maria story from the farm. My cousin brought all of the children chocolate covered apples and was coming to deliver them. Being a little shy because she'd not met him before, Maria grabbed hers and ran and said her new favorite words - "Thank you" and kept running. He rolled and everyone else did too - everyone told me THAT story! Hear the apple was a big hit, too!

We'll be reading the Christmas story tonight and opening the family gifts. In the morning we'll be seeing if Santa Claus knows where to find Daniel and Maria now (fairly certain that he does!) and enjoying five days of cousin fun before sadly returning home whipped Saturday night. Somewhere on Christmas day we'll be enjoying that great family tradition - Christmas tacos! I'm sure we'll be back on the blog on Saturday or so with tales of great joy (pictures, too!) and much fun, but internet access will be slim to none over the next few days - they have a great connection but it is locked up and the key well hidden while there are so many happy children around!

Merry Christmas!