Happy Christmas to All

Christmas was very fun for us this year. On Christmas Eve we got up and had homemade waffles and sausage. I ate about 5 sausages. The day flew by and I didn't even have time to finish making cookies for Santa! I also never took a nap (for the second day in a row) despite everyone's efforts and the many threats of coal in my stocking!

That night we went to church at 4:30 and everyone was well-behaved all things considered. Thankfully, Grandma, Poppy and GG went early and got us seats so we were able to show up right at 4:30 with no extra waiting. I liked the singing and knew some of the songs. When the choir was singing I kept asking Mom to sing along (not something that happens to her often!) We came home and had a nice dinner. I got the carrots ready for the reindeer and put them outside on the patio because I was afraid they might eat my table if I left them there. I decided to make toast and jam for Santa. Then we all read The Night Before Christmas. I fell asleep quite easily and Mom and Dad even woke up before me in the morning and had to wake me up around 7:45! We got everyone up and once I was allowed to come down the stairs I saw my new dollhouse that Santa brought for me and I was excited (so was GG, who also wanted to play with it). I was a little upset that Santa hadn't taken his plate to the kitchen, but glad he liked the toast.

I helped everyone open their stockings and Caroline needed help with most of her gifts. I kept saying things like "See Caroline, it's a toy. Isn't it nice?!?!?" while I held it right in her face. Aside from the dollhouse, I got ice skates, the Dora cash register, a teaset, two baby dolls and the whole family got DVD players for the car!

After a while I got a little burned out on presents and the breakfast casserole was about to get burned, too, so we took a break for breakfast. And decided to reconvene with gift opening once Jen, Billy and Hannah arrived. We spent the rest of the morning playing with the new toys and talking to our Canadian family on the phone. We found out that Aunt SuSu (Dad's sister) and Shane got engaged on Christmas Eve-- Congratulations, guys!

We snacked all afternoon--GG made some appetizers, something that a lady at the grocery store referred to as "Hanky Pankys" so that prompted a lot of jokes. Once the Indy crew arrived, we opened gifts again. I received a fabulous dress-up set that included not one, but two feather boas! They don't shed that much and the pink feathers look great on the carpet! Jen and Buddy continue their thoughtful gift giving . . . we're still enjoying the drum and musical instrument set from last year! And they are looking forward to our retaliation.

We had a delicious Christmas dinner. Dad made a great prime rib roast. He was so enamored with it, we weren't sure whether he would actually let us eat it, but he did! And we drank some champagne to celebrate the year and our two new babies. I drank apple juice from one of my toy goblets.
Now the mountain of toys at our house has grown even bigger. Mom is busy plotting her organizational strategy for the playroom. And we are still putting everything away

Hope everyone else had a great holiday!