The morning after we arrived we headed over to the Balestracci household, where they know what to do with all of that snow. It's all about sledding and snowballs. Callie hasn't quite caught on to either of those yet. But she was excited to see her cousins and spend some time exploring the white stuff. Her California roots showed up, however, and she soon retired inside with her Mom to warm up.
When we last saw Suzy and Brian they were in Colorado. Now that they are engaged they are showing their true domestic sides. The two of them make both a fine couple and a fine cookie. It was a lot of fun having a full house for the holidays. 
Now Nana Banana had to make sure that the cookie making was done right. The decorative aspects needed to be tasteful and not overdone. And of course there needed to be a batch of cookies left undecorated for Sport. Callie was more than happy to help with the quality control when it came to tasting the final product.
Speaking of the final product, here is Callie with one of the many cookies that were baked that day. She knows a good thing when she sees one. We would like to claim that this was the only sweet item she had over the course of our visit, but that is far from true. And she had quite a few adults at her disposal who she could turn to for help indulging her sweet tooth.On Christmas Eve we traveled to North Madison to spend the evening with the Skonieczny clan. Now that Mike and Kristen are living in Madison they wanted to host the traditional festivities. It was quite an event with a total of seventeen in attendance. There was good food and the kids had a great time.
Callie and John got to enjoy "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as read by Mike. You can see the latest addition to the family, little Eli, who was born on December 4. Despite the look on Callie's face, she enjoyed the experience.
But the story was not the end of night. Kristen, Ella, and Callie prepared plates for Santa and his reindeer. They wanted to make sure that everyone was well fed during their late night journey and left the plates on the edge of the fireplace.
This experience was both adorable and surreal. Although Callie hasn't quite made the full connection between Christmas and Santa, she can identify pictures of the jolly, bearded fellow, and is beginning to catch on to the whole thing. Next year is going to be an eye-opening experience for us.Because Callie hasn't gotten caught up in all the hype, we got to have a leisurely Christmas morning. No presents were opened until the afternoon when Katie, Chris, Michael, and Brendan arrived. Then the fun really began.
Once we were all settled in our spots in the living room, the stockings were distributed by Elf Brendan and the paper ripping began in earnest. Callie certainly loves ripping paper, and the fact that presents for her are involved just makes it that much better.
One of the fun things about the stockings in Madison is how long they are. Callie nearly disappeared into her stocking in the search for more presents. It was very sweet when she got to the bottom and pulled out an orange. She and Sarah opened it immediately so that they could share the tasty treat. It was great to see Callie get excited about the orange as much as she did about her other presents.
There were countless times that Callie simply glued herself to either Michael or Brendan. It should not be surprising, but she ADORES them and they are incredibly good with her. It makes us so happy to see how they play with her and deal with her love and demands. One night Michael had to stop eating because Callie had her head on his right arm and was just gazing lovingly up at him. To us this is cute, but to a 12 year-old it might be different.
One of the great things about our Christmas trips to Connecticut is our dinner with John's Uncle Tommy and Aunt Terry. We couldn't wait to have them meet Brian and see just how big Callie has gotten in the two years since they last saw her. Tommy and Terry focused on Suzy and Brian first, but Terry also wanted to give Callie her gift before dinner began. When it all comes down to it, Terry wanted to make sure she got on Callie's good side as soon as possible. Mission accomplished.
Here is Callie with what in some circles is called the "Bitty Baby starter kit". We were unaware of its existence before the evening. But as you can see from the look on Callie's face, this will not be the end of it. She only put the baby down to devour a couple of plates of pasta and some strawberry shortcake. At all other times she was walking around the table showing off her baby. Three weeks later as we write this, "Baby", as she is named, is still a prized possession and constant companion. By the time the evening had come to an end we had enjoyed a wonderful meal and even better company. It's a shame the dinner had to end, but we look forward to having more time with the whole crew in June at Suzy and Brian's wedding.
Just like the dinner, our time in Connecticut is never quite long enough. There were still people we missed seeing and others we didn't get to catch up with in depth. But such is life. Fortunately, however, we were in Madison long enough to be around when one of the final gifts arrived in the mail.
What do you get the UConn fan who seems to have it all? That's right, a UConn snuggie. We thought it was a fitting gift for two people who enjoy watching their team play from the comfort of their family room. Hopefully it brings them good luck. Too bad they didn't have them when the UConn men's basketball team played our boys from the University of Kentucky. C-A-T-S Cats! Cats! Cats!If we had exciting pictures from our New Year's Eve celebration, this is where we would put them. However, our New Year's Eve included an earache that gave Callie fits, and our New Year's Day started with a trip to a local medical clinic. But that could not put a damper on what was a wonderful year for the three of us. And we hope that 2010 will prove to be even better.
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