Merry Christmas!


It was a whirlwind Christmas this year! The main whirlwind revolved around the completion of the kitchen renovation. It ended up not being so much complete but rather operational. The second big event of the holidays was the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa who joined in the Christmas festivities AND the kitchen renovation. The third big event was Anna's Christmas pagent at school.

The kitchen renovation went right down to the wire with everything operational the night before Grandma and Grandpa arrived (the tile backsplace and cabinet knobs/handles still need to be added....maybe next week). As a result, the house remained a construction zone with few Christmas decorations to be found. Thanks to a lot of help from Grandma and Grandpa, everything got unpacked and the Christmas tree went up!

Grandma and Grandpa had quite a busy week. They arrived Tuesday morning after a flight delay just in time to see Anna in the Christmas pagent (Anna got to go up on stage along with the other kindergarteners and say their line). Immediately after the pagent, they went to work unpacking boxes and putting things back in order. In between the work, they did get to do some fun activities, including a Christmas light show, the botanical gardens, Arlington Cemetary, and Afghani food. Anna was thrilled to have her grandparents in town and peppered them with all of her questions, like:

"Grandma, why doesn't God get old?

Anna also enjoyed reading books to Grandma and Grandpa and demonstrating her new piano skills.

Grandma and Grandpa got to participate in the Fagella Christmas traditions, including Christmas Eve mass and a seafood dinner on Christmas Eve. Another tradition is the pilgrammage to Wegman's at 6:30 AM on Christmas Eve day to get fresh seafood to make the dinner. Grandma joined in for this event and was amazed at the hordes of people swarming the store as if they were preparing for a snowstorm. One lady almost ran over grandma with the shopping cart! The other tradition was the lighting of the luminaries -- something all the neighbors do. Grandpa and Anna took care of this, which involved putting candles in 9 empty milk jugs along the sidewalk. The neighborhood looked beautiful!

Anna got to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas Eve since they were leaving the next morning. Finally, Anna opted not to leave Santa any cookies this year and instead chose cherry pie because "Santa probably gets a lot of cookies." She also left a note for Santa.

Christmas morning, Anna awoke to find that not only had Santa ate her pie and left her a note, but he also left a big mess. Apparently he tripped over the fireplace screen as she found it on the floor, along with a piece of Santa's hat and some presents he dropped on the floor. Fortunately Santa made it upstairs to leave some additional presents for Anna. Grandma and Grandpa caught a morning flight back to Ohio so they could join cousin Aidyn for Christmas Day.

It was a great holiday weekend. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for making the trip out. It made the holiday extra special!

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