I'll have a blue Christmas...
Presents finally out - under & around the tree!
Someone is EXCITED!
And, after all the festivities, someone is sleepy. The doggie had to make room in his new pack and play for a sleepy little 2-year-old.
Not sleepy here - just ready for her prince to come.
Christmas dinner makes some of us especially jolly!
As you can see, we had a packed house of Roosmas for Christmas this year.
Having Roosmas means lots of game-playing,
Lots of book-reading,
And so many other unusual things.
Here is Sophie staring out the window at a particularly interesting sight. 
One of our favorite things to do is go to downtown Belmont. Here we are resolutely searching for some fun.
What could be more fun than trains? We like to get up-close & personal. Kate has a bit of a serious face, but I am breaking into my happy dance.
Even better - even closer!
Standing up on the old train that is parked downtown.
Sometimes Sophie isn't up for a photo op, but I always LOVE to be in pictures! Sometimes I am so excited I break out in a dance. (To be honest, I break out in dance all the time anyway.)
Sophie sometimes needs to be bribed with candy to make an appearance. Unfortunately, these were just a prop, and we didn't even get a lick!
Telling jokes to pass the time. (Daddy can be a bit particular when he takes pictures.)
Although Sophie is sometimes a little slow to get interested in pictures, she will eventually warm up.
Daddy & Mommy must have forgotten when Christmas is. They let us open a few presents today!! These ones are from Nana.
We got matching velour jogging suits. Mommy said they looked very cozy & wished she had one in her size.
Open, open, open...
Sophie tried to take away my toy, but I AM VICTORIOUS!! A new laptop - just for me! Now I can tell Daddy to keep his hands off of MY laptop!
A guitar for Sophie! "If I push this button, it makes fun music to dance to!"
As you've probably gathered by now, we are people of tradition - especially at Christmastime. Here we are at another of our favorite places - the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens.
They have a really good Santa Claus there. Here he is after coaxing Sophie near by. I think it took 4 candy canes to get her this close.
A close-up of Mommy & me!
We went with our friend Jenn, Owen, & Elliott to see the bear orchestra this year.
Sophie wasn't interested in being in our picture.
Daddy took us for dinner at the Billy Graham Library today. It was so special because it was all Christmas-y. Here you can see us in front of the live nativity. At this point in time, I am asking Mommy if the animals are real. (3 sheep, 1 goat, 1 donkey, & a CAMEL!)
This cow is not real. But, Sophie is very excited anyway. It is an exciting cow because she tells you a story about Billy Graham. This is our favorite place in the whole Billy Graham Library. We always watch her for a while.
Butter makes it all better...
Sophie pulls out a marker to work on her artistic side. (Aspiring to be like Aunt Christine, of course)
Today, we went to Joy & Elisa's house to work on some graham cracker-gingerbread houses. My roof kept falling off, so Mommy decided to make a more primitive looking house.
There were lots of people & it was so fun! 
Sunday was my big day!! Daddy & Mommy now have to buy me my own airplane ticket, because I AM TWO!! No more laps for me - on the airplane at least. Since I have all that new room, I decided I could pick out the biggest cupcake for myself.
I will put it right here.
Grandma came for the occasion. She & Opa were freshly back from Egypt. While they were there, they bought both of us Egyptian headgear. We like to pretend we're Mary. Kate's the Mary with the funny face. I'm Mary with the cell phone.
On Tuesday, we went to the 60th annual Belmont Christmas Parade. Here we are with our friends: Trey, Isaac, & Allie. You can tell we are pretty excited.
Mom found us a prime location right by the fried twinkies. But, we didn't even get to try one. Talk about a let-down. Mommy said not to worry - we'd get lots of candy when the parade went by. She was right.
Daddy had a VERY long weekend this week. After a fun Thanksgiving (with lots of food), we still had time for lots of fun & (of course) photo opportunities. On Friday, he took us to the train store while Mommy went shopping.
After that, we went to go buy a wreath from the Christmas tree farm.
Here he is!! Saturday, we went to Latta Plantation to see how people lived a long time ago. Mommy said it was before even she was born.
We girls enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
This is us peeping through the fence at a HUGE pig. No pictures of that, but he was so ugly you aren't missing much.
