Christmas

Let's see...when I last posted, Selim asked Santa for marzipan and I was trying to set the expectation bar very low.  Little did I know that Santa was able to accommodate.  When we woke up Christmas morning, the plate of cookies had been replaced with a plate of marzipan sweets and chocolate peanut butter cups!  Most excellent.  Selim has taken credit for that development ever since.   After all, he was the one who asked.

Despite waking up at 0'dark hundred, the boys waited patiently until 7:30 when they were allowed to go downstairs and wake up Max.  I was able to bake two batches of scones, one chocolate and one flavored with cardamon and orange zest.  Nedim surprised us by walking up the stairs right as the present unwrapped began.  It was so sweet to have him sitting on the couch with me.  Sometimes he feels a bit funny on Christmas morning because it isn't his holiday and doesn't give gifts nor does he expect any.  But he enjoys making Selim happy, so there he sat, taking it all in and unwrapping a few things himself.

For some reason, Selim has been wanting a suit.  I didn't spring for the pants and jacket, but I did get him a dress shirt and tie.  Looking at his is time warpish.  He looks so much older than he did a few minutes prior when he was in his pajamas.  What a different attire can make!

How we managed to extend the gift portion of the morning until 9:00 is a mystery.  The boys didn't race through, instead they enjoyed handing out gifts to others and examining the ones they opened themselves.  To top it all off, light snow started falling making our day a white Christmas.   The light coating was just enough to make sledding possible.  The fresh air and physical activity was a much needed antidote to the chocolate in the stockings and excitement of new toys.

Since Mom opted out for the sledding, I had to get a few pictures of her in the kitchen with her girls.

After lunch, we bundled back up and went for a walk.  On our way out to the East field, we pick up Amy, Jero and Jacob and they came along as well.  Selim and Jacob would race ahead on the trail and hide behind trees, jumping out and trying to scare everybody else.  They are quite the tracking duo.

It was a beautiful afternoon with the fresh snow adding more sparkle to our already sweet day.  No surprise, I took lots of pictures.  I got the men folk.  For some reason the composition of the photo reminds me of an album cover.  Not sure what we would call this band if they were musicians...

And Nedim showing off his teeth, yet again.

I handed the camera over to Stan so that he could take one of the ladies.

At one point going up the hill, Joshua decided that he didn't want to walk any more.

So he got more shoulder rides on the way down.

Everybody trooped back over to Mom and Robert's for chai and sweets.  It was a great walk...day...family time...sharing..reliving past adventures together...recounting of time spent with Sant Ji in India during the holiday season...eating cookies and drinking tea...remembrances of what the day is supposed to be all about.  Merry Christmas!