Our Christmas

We had the best Christmas this year. It was so nice and relaxing. We did nothing we needed to do, and whatever we wanted to do. So, it was lots of fun! Thankfully, gas prices have come down lots, so we got to travel too. But as it is every year, we stayed home Christmas day. It's so much fun to make cookies, open jammies on Christmas Eve, put out reindeer food, and all the other things we've started, from home.

Christmas Eve starts us off with Santa's elves leaving the girls jammies. They were so sweet too! They even took Santa the letters the girls wrote him. I ran out of time with mailing them. I just forgot, so we just left them on the fireplace for the elves. Sure enough, they were gone the next day.

Mema and Papa joined us late that night. They like to spend the night Christmas Eve and watch the girls open their gifts the next morning. Then we eat breakfast, and they go on to the next set of grandkids. It's a fun tradition, and the girls love sharing it with them.


We have a few traditions we do the night Santa comes. Here the girls are setting out Santa's cookies and milk. There was a lot of taste testing going on, and unfortunately I didn't catch Lily in time before she got a drink of his milk. That stuff does not agree with her. Poor thing.

I have no idea what they were doing here, but it was cute. Aren't their jammies cute? Those are the ones the elves brought.

I can't believe I was taking these pictures and I didn't see either of them drinking that milk. Little stinkers!

And we couldn't forget Santa's reindeers. They get hungry too. So we mixed up oatmeal and glitter (so they could see it) and spread it out on the sidewalk.

Then it was time to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was exciting this year, because Emma read it. She did so good. It was fun listening to her.

Then Emma and Daddy read the real Christmas story. Emma has always been so interested in reading this. The last few years she has asked that we read it to her and Lily. It makes me proud!

So, everything was ready for the big night, and we tucked the girls in bed. Poor Lily was terrified that Santa would walk down the hall to her room, so I had to promise to put her and Emma in our room when we went to bed. And we couldn't forget Po (her worm pillow) and Kitty (her blanket.)

Emma woke up first. I heard her coming back into the bedroom, thinking she was just leaving, and hollered at her to wait. Too late. I heard her telling Lily, "Santa left us lots of gifts!" She sounded so excited. So, Daddy and I got up and grabbed the camera. They were so fun to watch. Santa was really good to them this year. They both got a few gifts of their own from him, and then there was a huge pile for the whole family. Santa has never left Mom and Dad anything, so the kids got a kick out of that.

Santa always leaves his gifts wrapped in shinny paper. I don't have pictures of them opening their stockings, because we forgot them until later. But they couldn't believe that he left them each a letter that he wrote them. That was pretty cool. (The white stocking is Sasha's. She opens her's later, and I did get that.)

Then it was on to the presents from Mom and Dad.

Both the girls wanted a Nintendo DS. So, here is Emma after she opened her's. Santa had brought her Bolt to play in it, so we were telling her we would have to save up money to get her one later. So, she was pretty excited.

The girls are thanking each other for their gifts here. They both got each other a Diamond Castle Barbie. Lily got the pink one (from Emma) and Emma got the blue one (from Lily). They were so happy because when you press their hands together they sing together.

I wonder what Emma is saying here. :o) And Mema is hiding from the camera. She was even in her Christmas jammies. Too cute!

Lily just opened her blue Nintendo DS. She's actually really good at it. I was impressed!

More gifts...

Daddy had to teach the girls how to work their games. He really knew how because he had been playing them all month. It was pretty cute.

And here is his gift card to Sonic. I'm cheap, I know. But he always wants a coke, and never has the money, so problem solved. And I let him buy himself a really nice motorcycle jacket yesterday. I told him "Merry Christmas!" I'll have to take his picture with it on.


And then we remembered the cookies, milk, and reindeer food. So we ran outside, and sure enough, the reindeer had eaten it. It even had hoof prints in it. Emma was the one to notice this. She thought that was pretty awesome!

And of course the cookies were eaten and the milk was drank. Very cool!

And then we remembered the stockings, and I forgot my camera. At least until Neil brought out Sasha's gift. She got bones. She was the most excited I think! They were gone pretty quick. The girls kept sneaking her one.

As you can see, we had lots of fun. We hated that Daddy had to go to work, but the girls stayed busy, so it wasn't so bad. And we ran up there, and ate supper with him, so we got to see him that night too.

Oh, and I did get something, but it was busy taking pictures of the girls. I love my camera, and thank you Neil so much for buying it for us!

We hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours!