The Many Days of Christmas

Our Christmas season began with this concise and to-the-point letter to Santa Claus...

...and ended with a Bumper Cars Christmas morning, that is still going strong two days -- and many packs of batteries -- later.

Along the way, Jingle the Elf was full of pranks and antics, adding to the suspense and anticipation in the month of December, and improving the overall behavior in our house. He toilet-papered our bathroom, played with the kids' art supplies, engaged in friendly board games with fellow toys, and raided our pantry at night, ending his stay with us on a high note of catching a ride on the sun in Joey's hanging solar system.

In addition to getting very well acquainted with our little elf friend, we also got a meet-and-greet with Santa at St. Ignatius' annual party for faculty kids and grandkids. While Clara was much too intimidated to tell Santa what she really wanted for Christmas (a frog and a pogo stick), both kids were happy to accept a small present from him, and Molly proved unflappable for her first time on his lap.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Cecchin. While the rain was pouring down outside, Clara was snug and warm inside in her new adorable rain attire from Grandma and Aunt Meredith, and Joey was already hard at work with Grandpa collecting and cataloguing all of the state quarters.

The kids must have been very good this year (or must have really hoodwinked Jingle, our in-house Santa spy), because on Christmas morning, they were lucky enough to receive many goodies, including hooded towels, a dollhouse, a barn, and, most thrilling of all, a pitching machine that has yet to be photographed because of our rainy weather!

The fun continued later that day, with a delicious Italian feast with our extended family in Gilroy, at Tim's aunt Mary's home.

The Cecchin cousins were a little wild and unruly, but we managed to catch them at some calmer moments... here's Joey, Tommy, Marco and Clara coloring after dinner, and Molly and Lucy relaxing nearby.

By the end of the night, and after the marathon that is the month of December, we were all ready for a nap!

But we'll be all recharged and ready to celebrate Christmas again in two weeks, when the Raley family can all be together! Here's to Christmases that don't end!