The Day We Celebrated Christmas

I absolutely love Christmas morning… it has always been my favorite but with two sweet little daughters (three next year), it really is wonderful.  This year Santa set everything out of sight from the upstairs landing so when the girls peeked down the stairs they were a little concerned that maybe he didn’t come this year.  They were thrilled to discover that he definitely did come along with his reindeer who gobbled up all the treats they left for that jolly ol’ crew.  The big man even left some cookie crumbs in his empty milk glass, so they decided he must be a “dunker.”  Brooke was also convinced that Mrs. Claus had been there too.  We didn’t argue.

The girls opened some presents from Santa and their princess couch from Gram and Pop and then we decided to take our breakfast break to prevent any low blood sugar from spoiling our fun.  Katelyn really wanted Santa to bring her a Hello Kitty Water dispenser and Brooke wanted a Dora dress up outfit, so once they secured those treasures they were more than compliant to have what Brooke called “The best breakfast EVER!”  I think the Coconut Tres Leches Hot Chocolate that Kyle made sealed the deal on that title for all of us.

After breakfast, it was back to the fun.  Brooke was ecstatic when she opened her Leapster and Dora Leapster game.  She squealed “I’ve ALWAYS wanted this!  This is really cool!”  Thank goodness that’s only been just shy of three years of intense yearning on her part.  I am glad she didn’t have to wait another minute.

Katelyn was equally excited about her gifts.  Both girls were definitely spoiled by family, friends and Santa, but since they always say thank you and are so cute, it is alright to spoil, right?

The girls were so excited to give each other the presents they’d picked out for each other.  Katelyn loved her Littlest Pet Shop DSi game and Phineas & Ferb chapter book and Brooke loved her Build-A-Bear pet bed and Dora book.  When she saw the Dora book she screamed “OH MY GOSH!” about 10 times and then yelled “Sis, I LOVE IT!!!”  Katelyn loved getting such a positive review on her gift giving.

Among some of their other favorite treasures were the High School Musical book for Katelyn and a Hello Kitty purse for Brooke.  Katelyn spent any down-time pouring over every word and detail of the book.  When Brooke saw her purse she screamed “My Hello Kitty purse!  Now I can put some lipstick in it!”  It always fun to see what they will be crazy about.

Katelyn made special gifts for each of us and I could not get over how sweet and thoughtful each one was.  She just used things from around the house, but they really were perfect!  I took a picture of my two favorite parts of my gift.  She made me “a free ticket for one of Katelyn’s relaxing spa days.”  She knows me well.  She also turned one of her medals into something for me.  She labeled it as the “Best Mom Award.”  She is such a sweet heart.

Then she gave us the gift she’d made for us at school.  It was a darling Christmas ornament with snow flakes and a snow man, with a darling tag that said “Families are Forever, Love Never Melts.”  It was so cute and she was so proud!

 

Kyle was super excited about his new shirt… can you guess if it is the one he is holding or the one he is wearing?  He also got a doorbell for his cubicle that the girls are anxious to go try out at his office.

 

We took lots of breaks to play and be silly and after four hours of fun, it was time to see what Santa left in our stockings.  Who knew that the most exciting gift of all was about to be discovered in Kyle’s stocking.

This fall, the girls fell in love with what they called “French cheese” when we were in Montreal.  So when Kyle found a bag of Babybel cheese in his stocking, the girls started screaming and cheering… a true Christmas miracle.  Later on I asked Katelyn if she thought Santa made the cheese or if  he went all the way to Montreal to get it for us.  Katelyn responded immediately with this: “Maybe he just went to Costco because I saw it there.”  I love that girl.

The girls had a blast playing all afternoon and took breaks to help me make our Christmas dinner. 

Everyone was excited for dinner and we all enjoyed the beauty and size of Kyle’s meal.  My favorite part was the portion ratio between his 2 inch thick slice of prime rib and the 3 carrots he had on his plate.

 

The girls also loved their dinner.  Katelyn enjoyed everything on her plate and even had seconds.  We couldn’t trick Brooke into trying the sweet potatoes, but she was a huge fan of the prime rib.  She chose however to dip it in strawberry jam rather than au jus or horseradish.  They both said it was the best Christmas dinner ever.  Kyle also thoroughly enjoyed it, but suffered from a serious meat coma for about an hour.

We watched movies, played games and worked on assembling a Lego house.  Katelyn thanked us over and over for such a great day and Brooke  kept announcing “That was the best Christmas ever!”  I couldn’t agree more.