December 2011: For Aurora, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to take forever ("but how long do I have to wait?" and "I've been waiting a really long time to do..." were two familiar phrases). For Jon and Kathy, it went by too fast. Most of our holiday shopping was done online, and Aurora was very excited to see all the packages arriving at the house...until she noticed that none of them had her name on them. That made her quite anxious, and Jon did not help by telling Aurora that Santa only brings presents to good kids, then asking her if she has been good all year. She was not happy about the possiblity that she may not have "earned" any Christmas gifts this year. While we mostly avoided the crowds, it still took Kathy two days to wrap all the gifts. In all, Jon counted at least 40 presents under the tree and more in the stockings. No wonder it took us 2 days to open them all!`

December 4, 2011: We go to check out the lights at La Salette Shrine in Attleboro. There are over 300,000 holiday lights on the property.


Besides lights, they also had hayrides, a train ride, and carousel. We indulged Aurora's desire to ride on the carousel, but denied her the fried dough she also requested. She has been to so many carnivals she recognizes when other folks are eating fried dough!
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Afterwards, we go to dinner with Andy and Rebecca. Aurora really enjoyed her chocolate cake!



December 7, 2011: On the way to school that morning, Aurora asked me how to spell "reindeer." When we got to she school, she showed me her (labeled) picture of a reindeer.



December 9, 2011: Aurora planted some crocus bulbs in the front yard this fall, and she often goes over to check to see how they are doing. We explained to her that her flowers won't show up until the spring, so Aurora found a way to make her garden grow faster.

Video: Water, water


December 10, 2011: When we asked her what she wanted this year, Aurora kept saying "lights," meaning she wanted to put lights up around the house. Here she is getting her wish.

Video: Lights


December 11, 2011: We buy our Christmas tree.



December 15, 2011: Aurora sees "The Nutcracker" for the third time. As in years past, after the show Aurora and Mama go to the Walnut Hill Boar's Head Holiday dinner together. She likes to get dressed up for the special treat.



December 17, 2011: We attend the second annual Walnut Hill Children's Party.


When Santa showed up, we weren't sure if Aurora would be scared or not (she has refused to go see Santa at the Mall for the past 2 years). She was a bit nervous, but once she saw all the other kids getting gifts from him, she cautiously went up to see Santa too.


What did Santa give you?


Here's a series of goofy family shots.



December 18, 2011: We host Greer for some toddler crafts, games, and cookie decorating. Aunt Amy teaches Aurora how to play the dreidel game.



December 19, 2011: The tree finally gets moved into the house (from the porch) and we begin the multi-day process of setting it up and decorating it. Aurora is "so 'cited" to have the tree in the living room.



December 22, 2011: More tree decorating. Aurora has been very diligent about doing QC on the popcorn made for the garlands. She's so happy and does her interpretation of "The Nutcracker."


Video: Silver bells (soon it will be Christmas day)

Notice the bottom heavy distribution of ornaments?


Aurora decides to hang a barrel of monkeys on the tree too. She wants them to be up top, so she asks Baba for help.



December 24-25, 2011: We thought Aurora would NEVER go to sleep on Christmas Eve! She was too excited to fall asleep and kept popping out of her room every 10-15 minutes. At 11:30 pm, we told her that Santa would visit Lily's house next door but he would not come to our house because she was still awake. That seemed to do the trick and she finally settled down enough to stay in her room and allow Jon and Kathy to fill the stockings and put out all the presents. These photos were taken around 2 am.



December 25, 2001: Merry Christmas! We managed to keep Aurora out of the living room until after breakfast.

Video: Santa Claus came to town

Opening the first present.


Aurora is forced to endure multiple attempts at a decent family picture in front of the tree.


Finally allowed to open more presents!


Video: Finding her presents

Aurora is very helpful, assisting both Baba and Mama with opening their presents. And sometimes announcing what the item is before the wrapping paper is even torn.


Aurora's favorite presents are books and puzzles - and she almost always wants to read the book or do the puzzle immediately after opening it.


Aurora forgot all about the stockings!


More presents, followed by a happy Christmas dance, then more presents.



It was easy for Aurora to recognize the gifts for "AURORA" but much harder to do it when written in Chinese! She used a cheat sheet to compare her Chinese name to those written on the gift tags to find the rest of her presents.


We had to take a break from presents to take a nap and to have dinner (Anthony, Frankie, and Cathy joined us). Afterwards, Aurora got to open a couple more presents before bedtime.



December 26, 2011: After a big day, Aurora sleeps in the next morning. She needs her rest because there are still more presents to be opened!


Showing off her new skill!


More presents.



December 28, 2011: We are in NY visiting Wai Po and Wai Gong.


Aurora constructs a doghouse for her nap.



December 29, 2011: We're head down to the city! Jon, Kathy and Aurora take the train into Manhattan for the day. Classic poses while waiting for the train.


Aurora rides MetroNorth for the first time, and gets a special ticket from the conductor.


From Grand Central, we walk over to Toys R Us in Times Square.


Waiting (somewhat) patiently to ride the ferris wheel.


Aurora was hoping for the "My little pony" car, but she had to be OK with the "Little People" school bus instead. Although she was disappointed, even she told me, "you get what you get and you don't get upset."


Video: Wheels on the bus



Video: What do you see?



In Times Square.


New York City - home of a wide variety of exotic cuisines. Where do we end up for lunch? TGIFriday's. (sigh)


After lunch we walk over to Rockefeller Center to check out the tree and ice skaters.


On the way back to Grand Central, Aurora gets a special NYC treat - a giant pretzel! About 5 minutes after the train leaves the station, Aurora passes out with her head on Mama's lap.


That evening, we had dinner at the local diner. Aurora is not too sure about the animated Santa and Mrs. Claus next to our booth.



December 30, 2011: That morning, Aurora tries to teach Wai Po how to use her iXL. It didn't go too well.


Then it was on to the piano.


Later, we all went for a walk along the bike path. The portion we were on cross the Croton Reservoir, which Aurora thought was cool. She started out insisting on being pushed in her stroller, but soon had to get up and run around. She repeatedly challenged Wai Po to a race. Guess who won every time?


Then it was back into the stroller - briefly.


Video: Hey, come on!

Video: Racing with Baba

Aurora hiked up a mini hill with Baba.


Then she found a walking stick.


She saw that the small stream of water next to the paved path was clogged up with leaves, so she used her stick to unblock it. She's becoming an engineer!


Then her stick became a baton and Aurora became the leader of the marching band. First, she had all of us line up behind her and march along to her song. Then we had to sing "The ants go marching..." It's amazing what one stick can do!

Video: Marching band song



Video: Open sesame!

Immediately after eating her dinner that night, Aurora crawled into her doghouse and passed out.


December 31, 2001: We drove back to Boston that day so we could meet up with Heather, who was visiting from DC. We had dinner that night at a Cuban restaurant Andy and Rebecca found.