Christmas Family

Matt, Isaiah and Paul at brunch on Christmas Eve.

 Marian, Liz and Bernadette at brunch on Christmas Eve.

 Magda, Bernadette and Pete Christmas morning.

 Isaiah and Bernadette listen to Uncle Paul read.

 Grandma Tascio helps Isaiah find the good presents on Christmas Day.

Grandpa Tascio entertains Bernadette.

 Presents!

Fun with wrapping paper. You mean there's more?

The trains are on schedule at the Friedrichs house.

Is there anything else back there?

Face time

 

Chocolate-blueberry pre-Christmas beard.

Warning

"Look out! We are falling asleep," Isaiah yells as Marian enters the darkened bedroom with Bernadette. "Look out! We are falling asleep!"

Bernadette's Days

 

Playing with the Asics, Marathon bear. It was a favorite for Isaiah, and Bernadette likes it, too.

 Luxuriating on the quilt from Aunt Marilyn.

What was that?

Into the woods

 

We spent Saturday in at the Voluntown Peace Trust (near the Rhode Island-Connecticut border) for the Hartford Catholic Worker Green House Christmas party. The woods and stream were beautiful. Despite the calm you see in these pictures, there was a rollicking party with food, games, crafts, presents, singing and more for a bunch of kids from the North End of Hartford who regularly attend the Green House programs. It was a great afternoon.

Haircut

Moments

Yesterday, Isaiah clambered on top of his mother and father in bed. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "Climbing on a pile of friends!"

Also, he has a plan: "When Jesus's birthday comes, we will all tear open the paper and devour the trucks together."

And a Different Kind of Note

At the grocery store today I asked Isaiah to be in charge of our shopping list. He eagerly took it, studied it, and reported, with his eyes fixed on the paper, "It says, 'Give us all your gold and jewels and you can have your daughter back safe and sound. Signed Morbert and his terrible dragon.' "

Notes

Saturday: The fish at the store enthralled Bernadette. Never, in her whole life, had she seen anything like them swimming about in their tank.

Sunday: This morning's object of fascination: Slinky. Bernadette looked at it. She touched it. She talked to, or about it (I don't have the full translation, so I'm unclear of her sentiments).

Jumping on the bed is more fun than brushing teeth.

 

Isaiah these days

He's been singing "Jesus, Name Above All Names" often, but he has begun substituting other beloved terms, for instance: "Dump truuuuuck, name above aaall names..." or "Truck booooook, name above aaall names..." He sings loudly.

The other day he said he wanted to give Jesus a kiss, so I handed him a little plastic crucifix. Jesus indeed got a kiss "and a smooch and a hug." (A kiss differs from a smooch in that the former is a peck on the cheek, while the latter is a big wet one on the lips, in case you were wondering. On the little crucifix not much difference was detectable. The hug had to be scaled down to a cheek press.)

His current literary obsession is The Gift of the Magi. When I read the sentence, "Della heard Jim's step away down on the first flight," he commonly interjects, "And then Jim heard Della's step away down on the first airplane." In this story we learned the word "parsimony," which is hilarious and endlessly repeatable.

Notes

Bernadette showing great interest in her fists. Sometimes she stares at one or both. Sometimes she talks to them. Sometimes she sticks them in her mouth. Today she accidentally bit herself with her new tooth. And the other day she grabbed one of her own fingers and was upset that someone was pulling so hard.

And here she shows interest in Grandma and the shoe Grandma is dangling.