lille julaften

 in norway they celebrate lille julaften, and each year my brother-in-law acknowledges the day, as his parents always did. i've known my brother-in-law since i was six, so the tradition has been with me for a long time. when we moved to the city, the girls and i began a tradition of walking to little italy and having tea and pastries at ferrara's. in the past few years, greg has been able to have the day off, and so now we all go. 

 waiting to meet up with daddy . . 

 mulberry street all decked out for the holiday.

 deciding what to have can sometimes be . . difficult. morgana finally chose a chocolate cannoli and a hot chocolate.

i chose two dishes! one we would share: pignoli and tre colori cookies.

 my second was a new york cheese cake . . my favorite. however, greg did have to finish it for me.

 we missed korrina this year. she was at work . . 

 greg had the same as me, and chanda had a cream puff with decaf earl grey tea.

 there was so much to do today, that i was surprised i managed to put together a decent dinner. we had sesame greens with faicco's italian chicken sausage and spaetzle.

afterwards, we opened san's gifts. she had found gryffindor and hogwarts soaps on etsy and sent one each to morgana and chanda. they were perfect and wonderful san! 

 i loved my gift . . can you see them? holiday stitch markers! thanks so much san! i want to put them right on my project . . 

 we then had a burst of energy and everyone turned into elves to wrap, 

 and bake . . 

 and string christmas tree lights on the fat little fir tree.

 this tree just loves being here. i don't think we've ever had such a happy christmas tree.

frohe weihnachten . . buon natali . . god jul!