The DePrince Family Chronicles: Guess what Santa brought....

Merry Christmas! We celebrated the holiday season in Grand Style! We started off with our Traditional Christmas Eve Dinner at Diana and Mike's home, Anthony's Sister and Brother-in-Law. The scene was set, the roast was on the table, the tree was trimmed, the house was decorated perfectly, Bing Crosby was on the radio, Mike was out riding on the Fire Truck- escorting Santa on his annual rounds about town, everyone was having a blast... then my Father-in-Law asked to crack open the Champagne to toast the Holiday. As Anthony is pouring he asks Diana if she would like a little, she graciously replied "No Thank you"... which of course was followed up with a question from someone asking her why... Then the big announcement... Diana and Mike are gonna have a baby!!!!! YIPPIE! What a Christmans present!!!!! We are overjoyed and are so excited to be a part of such a joyous celebration. Please join us in Congratulating Diana and Mike on their happy news! Christmas Eve is also Diana's Birthday, so it was even more special to celebrate her birth while celebrating the beginning of life for her little one...

Happy Birthday, Diana, and Congratulations to both of you!!!! We love you!!!!

After dinner, we went to Anthony's Aunt Elaine's for our traditional "7 Fishes Christmas Eve Get-Together". Imagine every kind of seafood you can imagine, all cooked Italian style... Bacala Salad, Fried Smelts, Bluefish, Shrimp for days- not to mention any way you would want to eat it, Calamari, Fried Flounder, the list goes on and on and on. I look forward to this EVERY SINGLE YEAR! I am an absolute seafood freak and my husband's Aunt works it out in the kitchen! Whew... this lady can cook! (Love you Aunt Elaine! MWAH!) On top of the all the delicious seafood, there are all sorts of other goodies, like italian olives stuffed with garlic and cream cheese, macaroni with broccoli, and desserts. If you leave this place hungry... it's your own fault!!! LOL! Now, the food is not the only reason we go... all though it is a really good one! Just about all of Anthony's family is there celebrating together and re-living and remembering the past year, while enjoying some Christmas Cheer. It is always so wonderful to see our family. For some of us, this is the only time we get to see each other. There is just something about good food, family, and good times that makes your heart warm! Here are some pics from Christmas Eve.

Anthony enjoying some of the Christmas Eve Feast!

Hey, is this for me???!!!

Uncle Chris, Anthony, and Aunt Francesca

Anthony loves Aunt Diana

I wanna a "Chire-chuck" for Christmas!

Some beautiful kiddos...

We finally got home at about 10pm. We read "The Night Before Christmas" to Little Anthony, then we all went out to the front porch to spread out the reindeer food we had made earlier that week. We needed to make sure that Santa's reindeer had something to eat too, ya know! Then, we put some cookies and milk under the tree for Santa and one sleepy little boy climbed up the stairs to his bedroom. Little Mister nuzzled his little head right into his crib and fell fast asleep in just wink! Mommy and Daddy were soon behind him, ready for a good nights' rest after the long day. Then, just as Daddy was falling asleep, he heard a noise on the roof and and then on the front yard.... he peeked out side and didn't see anything, so he went to sleep. Thinking nothing more of what he had heard....

When we woke in the morning, we discovered what the noise was... DADDY HAD HEARD SANTA!!!! SANTA HAD COME! Here is what we found when we came down the steps on Christmas Morning...