C and NC got to go sledding and snow-playing together today with Aunt Betsy, Uncle Ray and cousins E and M, plus friends.

As one would expect, NC LOVES to sled – the steeper the hill, the better. C, well, not so much. She took a ride or two, but then strongly preferred to watch everyone else sled and to offer enthusiastic cheering from the sidelines.

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Last night on Christmas Eve, C and NC – along with J and E and cousins ET and MT – participated in the Nativity Pageant at our church. The toddlers played sheep in the pageant, and we talked 14 year old J into playing the part of a sheep as well, for the sole purpose of attempting to keep C and NC in line during the service. She was a very good sport about the whole thing.

Hilarity ensued.

These photos don’t do justice to how hard J had to work to try to keep the two naughty little sheep from escaping from the Nativity Scene in which they were supposed to remain in place up on the altar at the front of our church sanctuary. They kept wriggling free from her grasp, then crawling commando style down the steps before easing themselves out between the altar railings. Then they would grin at the audience, trot back up the steps and do it all over again.

They did this throughout the pageant, even as all the OTHER children behaved very well. Look how irritated J looks by the final photo in the series…and can you blame her? Wild, marauding lambs were going berserk, and she had no shepherd’s crook with which to whack them or hook them…or whatever it is one does with a shepherd’s crook.

Guess which one of The Baby Cousins was the instigator?

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C and NC wait to be measured and fitted for their costumes (they’re both playing sheep) for the church Christmas pageant. The cupcakes helped make the wait more bearable.

Also today, C suddenly stood up and yelled out, “THIS IS THE BEST CHWISSMAS EVER!!”

C and NC turned two a few months ago, so this Christmas is a complete revelation to them. Actually, they didn’t really notice Christmas last year. But this time? They are DIGGING Christmas. Each time a new decoration comes out, they are so excited that I fear their little noggins might explode from the sheer joy of it all.

Here they are a day or two ago, checking out a Santa snow globe for the first time. I have been collecting Christmas snow globes for years, and all of the kids love them, but for toddlers, a musical snow globe is as much fun as DisneyWorld… (forgive the lighting in the video, I shot it on my BlackBerry, which isn’t exactly the highest quality camera)

On Friday night, C and NC went to see “Finding Nemo on Ice” together.

And this morning they curled up together in a quiet corner of the church nursery to tell secrets to each other.

The girls are both going to play little lambs in the Christmas Eve pageant at our church. (It’s possible that real, actual angels may descend from on high to attend the pageant, just because they want to get a peek at the cuteness first-hand.) E has been tapped to play Joseph, cousin M is a wise man, I think, and I am going to try to convince 14 year old J to put on some sort of Nativity-scene-appropriate costume so she can herd the two little sheep around up on the altar/stage during the performance.

A Baby Cousin(s) Update:

I’ve talked before about how naughty NC can be. But you have to love her anyway, because she has some magical quality that makes EVERYONE she meets want to be near her. She’s got IT. Charisma. Star quality. Whatever it is that makes people love you, no matter.

So what else could she be for Halloween…?