Holiday Season

So, once again a Holiday Season has been successfully accomplished, including all of the elements tradition requires. There was baking - a lot...
There was a properly decorated tree with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus underneath it - the latter however, in Lautje's version of things, came riding in on a camel and seemed rather focused on lining up the sheep in exactly right angles to the three kings...
There was a lovely Christmas dinner with roast chicken and mango juice (nothing says Christmas like mango juice):
And then there were gifts, most of which were sent by Santa in mysterious and intricate ways that involved steam boats from Spain, flying reindeer, lots of chimneys and some planes from Texas. Anneke and Lautje luckily did not waste any energy trying to puzzle it out but rather threw themselves into unwrapping and playing. This is Juju with her two favorite gifts - a fluffy hat that she proceeded to wear all the way through New Year's, and her push-the-button-and-I-(sort-of)-sing-Elmo, much beloved by the kids, somewhat less so by the parents:
Lautje took to a different kind of costume:
And Juju had a field day with all of the pink, glitzy dress-up stuff provided by her thoughtful Nanny:
Really - it's the wings that make the outfit. It's a good thing Nanny did not include a halo - that would have been pushing it...