A VERY MARY CHRISTMAS!

Making Christmas cookies with Dakota 

Lyndsey is overseeing the action

YUM!  

Making a movie with Lyndsey and Dakota 

A "Talk Back" after the show with 6th graders 

Thanks Secret Santa... how'd you know I love Starbucks? 

A very MARY Christmas Party 

The Banks Brats 

Making Gingerbread stars! 

Hours later...still making Gingerbread stars!! 

Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve Dinner 

Dakota and I building our gifts from Julie, our awesome wrangler 

Santa was here! 

Christmas morning!  Opening presents from my stocking 

Lego Game 

Ahhhh! It's a MacBook Air! 

Skyping with my Dad and Grandparents

I unwrapped a clue that leads to a PRESENT! 

Lyndsey and Dakota get clues too!  

The scavenger hunt leads us to the lobby 

Doing some math calculations to find the next clue 

Hmmmm...this is HARD! 

FINALLY! Our clues led us to our big suprise.... 

A New Years Eve Party at Great Wolf Lodge! 

Dakota couldn't resist...he gave me my Bday present a few days early! 

It's a puppet like his! I named him Chef Luigi. 

Playing "Love Thy Neighbor" 

I had a terrific Christmas this year! It's hard to be away from my family and friends during the holidays but that didn't stop me from having a terrific time.  I love to bake, so  we made a LOT of cookies and gave everyone in the cast some.  We made gingerbread stars, just like in the show!  I didn't think I liked gingerbread, but I do now.  Our cast played "Secret Santa" and we got to buy a few little gifts and one big gift to the person whos name we pulled out of a stocking.  I pulled Neka's name!  I had fun shopping for her and buying her gifts.  I got her some chocolate, fuzzy socks, gummy candy, tea, Hunger Games books, and "I Love Lucy" DVD's.  She never guessed it was me!  My secret Santa was JOSH!  I didn't guess it was him either.  He bought me all kinds of cool stuff like a bunch of candy, a little lego kit, a starbucks giftcard, an awesome pink tie, and a Pharoh's Quest Lego set.  I loved all of my gifts!

On Christmas Eve, we had a traditional Italian "7 Fishes" dinner.  It was a lot of fun but we all ate way too much!  I was so excited for the next day that I wanted to go to bed early but I couldn't fall asleep!  Finally I did and I woke up at 5am to open my gifts. My mom told me I had to go back to bed until it was light outside so I did.  When I woke up again I finally got to open my presents.  I got some great gifts but my favorite thing by far was a MacBook Air!  It's really light and it's super cool.  I even got a Darth Vader sticker to put on it.  Later on I Skyped with my dad, Grandma, Lolo, Neal, Nina, and Lina. It was good to see them, even if it was just on a computer screen. I told them about my presents and  they told me about theirs.  I'm going home for a week in a couple weeks so I get to see them all soon.  I also Skyped and talked on the phone with my Texas Family, my Nana and Pop Pop, and some friends from PA.  It seems like everyone had a terrific Christmas too!

Just when I thought all my gifts were opened, my mom handed me one more gift. It had a clue in it that led me to Dakota and Lyndseys room. They got a clue too.  Before we knew it, we were on a scavenger hunt to find our secret present.  It took about an hour and it was really fun to figure out the clues.  At the end of the scavenger hunt we discovered our suprise....we were all going to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls for New Years Eve.  I've never been there so I was very excited.

Later that afternoon, we had a big Christmas dinner with turkey, ham, and all kinds of food. After dinner, we played card games and watched Christmas movies.  I am very thankful for all of my great family and friends, in the United States and here in Canada this Christmas!

Stay tuned for one last Toronto post before we move on to Mexico City....