Hard to believe Christmas has come and gone already. It was a crazy month with Brian gone about 10 days and lots of visa drama. (He was told on December 17th that he would need a visa which prompted an emergency trip so San Fransisco on Dec. 19th and then a fight between the opera and the Consulate and Brian without a passport only days before we were to travel. Hmm. . . if we had known he needed one when we heard the job came through this all could have been done by mail but it all finally did work out. Kind of funny, Brian also needed a visa for Japan but that process was totally organized and drama free.)

So hello from Italy, but first, Christmas.

Fun with the Christmas Crackers.

Colin as Joseph and Mallory as Mary.

Things went slightly better than last year.

Christmas morning our kids would have been totally happy just with their stocking goodies (not a ton of candy but fun things like cans of root beer and an entire box of Wheat Thins. Our kids love Wheat Thins, and they have stocking big enough to accomidate! But they also love over sized lollipops.)

The Christmas carnage. We had such a pretty tree this year.

My mom got us a new fire pit so we had a Christmas outside fire. We only had mini marshmallows that do not roast so well. Brian also brought out the guitar to sing some carols.

Jane is still pretty scary with an open flame.