Christmas in Cleveland

Christmas Morning

Next year, we will give the kids a TOY as the first gift to open.  Oops.

Cheese!

Playing "Dr Dino" with their new doctor kit.

What good helpers!

Maw Maw made Avery a "spider web" out of a basketball net to go along with his spider man glove.

Shooting webs.

It's SpiderMan himself!!

Kayla won't be left behind!

Kayla loves her new Abby and Minnie Mouse dolls.  They are her BFF's.

Snuggle time with my girl.

Kayla and her new Minnie Mouse backpack...now she can be just like her big brother!

A kid's camera, so Avery can continue to perfect his photography skills, without breaking mine!

As soon as Kayla opened this outfit from Aunt Luz and Uncle Jon Jon, she just HAD to put it on.  "Jacket?  Jacket?"

The kids with their new racetrack.

Posing in front of the tree.  Pop Pop's flash is obviously much better than mine.

Kayla with her new dragon toy that Avery picked out just for her (and Kayla's slippers....NOT a toy, Haley!).

Kayla petting her doggy toy that Avery picked out just for her.

Awww...hold me, it's Christmas!!

Avery taking a picture of Pop Pop.

I put the kids' church outfits back on to try to get a family photo again.  Umm....this was not what I had in mind, kids.

Uncle Norm, we will ship your new best friend right to ya!

Haley had some competition for Uncle Norm's attention!!

Grandma Speck checking out Avery's Spider Man glove.  Avery loves his "Gwamma Speck".

Four generations of (strong-willed) Becka/Speck/Sattelmeyer/Jean women.

OMG.  What an exhausting day!!  I am getting stressed out thinking that just 8 hours after this picture was taken, we were pulling out of the driveway at 2:45am for the 14 hour car ride back to Charleston.  Someone buy me a plane!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we helped roll covatelli and then got ready to go to the children's mass at the wonderful Our Lady of Peace Church.  The kids made it through half of the mass, which is about their average time for sitting still on hard wooden benches and trying to keep quiet.  I couldn't get a good picture of the kids in the church clothes (go figure....these children can sense when I am desperate for a picture), so these crummy ones will have to do. 

 

 

 After mass and after our traditional cavatelli dinner (which was YUMMY), Pop Pop read "A Christmas Story" and we left out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

 Santa and the reindeers graciously ate the food that was left out for them, and Santa even wrote a letter of thanks to Avery.  What a nice guy.

 Putting Christmas gifts underneath the tree.

Making the Traditional Covatelli

Ever since the late 1980's or early 90's, it has been a Sattelmeyer Family tradition to make homemade covatelli for Christmas Eve dinner, similar to a tradition that my dad had with his grandparents when he was growing up.  The way we make them is apparently a cross between a traditional covatelli and traditional gnocchi, and this hybrid recipe has to do with the specific region in Italy that my dad's great-grandparents came from.  As a child, I remember us patiently waiting for my dad to make the dough and roll the dough out, so we could roll the tiny little squares that he cut off of the dough.  Every year, we had a contest to see who was the worst covatelli roller; Uncle David usually won this contest hands-down.  This year, I think the award went to Kayla.  Regardless of who is the worst or best roller, all of the covatelli seems to come out looking the same once boiled.  And, boy, is it delicious!!

 

Avery and Pop Pop rolling out the dough.

 Patting the dough down.

 Kayla was a bit squeamish to pat the dough...maybe we should use playdough more often.

 Look at my hands!

 Hands from different generations patting the dough down.

It's time to roll the covatelli!

 

Some of Kayla's finest work.



 YUM YUM.  More please!