We had a beautifully clear Christmas in Las Vegas, unlike the rest of the country; if you count as "the rest of the country" I'm sorry. No snow and not too much blistery wind. Christmas Day it was 50 degrees. Have I rubbed it in enough? Ok, I'll move on.
Christmas Eve Elliott came home from work early and we decided to attend a Christmas Eve service at church, where we sang lots of Christmas carols (albeit their rock 'n roll counterparts) and had a beautiful closing of lit candles and acapella Silent Night. I enjoyed getting into the spirit of the season and sending us into the next day's craziness with a focus on why we celebrate - Jesus' birthday.
On the way home we picked up a hamburger and fries for the girls (very festive, right?) while Elliott and I decided to continue our Christmas Eve tradition of sushi (again, very festive) and Christmas movie after the girls went to bed. After the girls' dinner we checked the Norad Santa Tracker to see where Santa was now (Ava and I had been following it all day while Santa visited Africa and Europe) and then trooped off to open our stocking presents.
The girls got little Polly Pocket princess dolls (Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella) that they can dress and undress on their own. They love them! My friend Lisa has these same type of dolls at her house and they love playing with them. I have to admit I lucked out on these and didn't realize what exactly they were; I simply picked them up several months ago from a clearance cart at the grocery store.
After presents Elliott read the Nativity story from the book of Luke while Ava and I acted it out with the Little People Nativity set. Lily was too into other things to pay attention, but Ava loved it. In fact, she has been getting the story told to her so many times that she really knew it all and enjoyed it alot. Afterwards though Lily enjoyed playing with the set and telling us the animal sounds.
Piper was a doll and sat nicely throughout the festivities, even snuggling up for a daddy and me photo.
After the girls went to bed and the sushi was consumed "Santa" brought out the presents. For promising each other we weren't really shopping this year, the tree got awful full didn't it? Along with extended family sending presents to the girls, I am excited to report how little was spent on the haul. I had been picking up bits and pieces for the girls all year long at garage sale, while the things we bought in December were done with coupons, discounts, free shipping and saved up money. And I am proud to say that. It feels good to know we didn't spend money we didn't have.
Christmas morning started off with a bang, but at least the girls don't know to get up extra early. They woke up at their normal time (about 7:30) and I kept them corralled until Elliott had time to get the video camera ready for their entrance. Then we let them loose. I wrapped each child's presents in a unique paper and simply put their initial on the package (A for Ava, and so on). This way they identified their own presents and simply set to task opening them, allowing Elliott and I to sit back and enjoy the show.
Ava and Lily both received many of the same things (princess dresses, books, DVDs, coloring books and washable markers) while we tried to maintain their own unique interests (Lily got Elmo's World DVDs while Ava got Princess Stories). Santa brought Elliott and I a wireless printer, Memory Foam mattress topper and a mattress pad. And Elliott gave me a gift card for a massage and facial which I can't wait to use!
One of the funniest things I thought was that I used cereal boxes to wrap presents and the girls were perfectly happy thinking they had received a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch! We had to convince them to actually open the box and see that it wasn't cereal!
All in all, they got quite a haul. They have been loving every item, some more than others but nothing is suffering from lack of attention that's for sure. We received an after-Christmas present too when Elliott's parents came to town on Saturday and left this morning, bringing with them an additional amount of gifts and the feeling of extra family at Christmas that only Grandma's and Grandpa's can bring.
1 comment:
That's so funny (and sweet) that the girls were perfectly happy thinking you gave them cereal for Christmas. I wrapped one of Grant's gifts in a cracker box and he looked at me like I was crazy when he opened it. He was so relieved when I told him his present was inside the box!
Post a Comment