A White Christmas

What a wonderful surprise to wake up to snow on Christmas morning! We took full advantage of it and had lots of fun playing in it, but more on that later...

Our Christmas morning started around 7:30 when the girls woke up. They were still a little sleepy, but eager to see if Santa had really come. Indeed he had!

Grace's wish list this year included a real pink guitar (check), a Sleeping Beauty costume (check), a real computer (no check) and a gold Prada purse (no check, but I can't blame her for having such expensive taste; she saw one at NorthPark and wanted it; until Santa starts leaving me Prada purses, I think she's out of luck). Santa surprised her with a new (but retro looking) big girl bike!

Ella didn't have a list this year and would have been content to just play with Grace's stuff (including the new bike), but Santa still delivered some fun things, like an Elmo book, a pink airplane (the girl is fascinated by planes, cars and trains), and some costumes. She also had a blast opening gifts and kept demanding, "Mama. Take a pitcha!"

Ella definitely gets the award for most Christmas spirit. Her first reaction when she saw all the gifts was, "Santa Cwause, I wuv you!!" Precious and priceless. All day, she told everyone, "Mewy Cwissmiss!" Grace, however, got a little overwhelmed I think, which necessitated a little talk about having a good attitude and being thankful.

Sutton was a total joy on his first Christmas. I know he won't remember it, but I will always remember how excited he was to play in the paper, bows and boxes. And, he finally got some boy toys!

We had a fabulous morning opening and playing with our new gifts. Santa and our families are so generous, and we ended up with soooo much fun stuff--so much that I had to do a "toy clean out" that weekend to make room for it all. I mean, 14 new dress up outfits with shoes, jewelry, crowns and wands to match?! Not to mention countless books for our ever growing library, clothes and games. I'm glad Christmas only comes once a year.

Grace testing her new makeup

Ella taking control of Sutton's car/walker

Playing together nicely

Loving on her new Barbie and sparkly purse (not quite the gold Prada, but close enough)

Sutton was thrilled with his new stacking cups

Miss Christmas 2009

The perfect real pink guitar

Trying on one of my dollar store stocking stuffers from Santa

Silly Grace

Mmmm mmmm, a healthy breakfast--M&Ms, a rice crispie treat and a lollipop

The adults actually had a delicious breakfast of hashbrown casserole and cinnamon rolls. Probably not healthy, but certainly acceptable for Christmas morning. This is the second year we've done it, and we've decided its a winning tradition. After breakfast, it was time for some fun in the snow. We wanted to get out in it before it melted, and boy, it sure was cold!!

All bundled up (with pajamas as a snowsuit)

I love this picture

It cracks me up that the first thing Grace and Ella did was eat the snow

They made their first snow angels

Grace and Travis had a snowball fight

Grace and Chachi played "Run Around You Can't Catch Me"

Then, all of a sudden, Grace realized how cold she was and she was DONE!

Once inside, they had more fun playing with their loot. Ella loved her umbrella-ella-ella

We lazed around all morning, and once the girls finally got dressed, they anxiously waited for the rest of the family to join us for Christmas lunch.

Ella took her seat before anyone else. The girl was starving after such a healthy breakfast. I realized that most 2-year-olds don't sit in highchairs, but she prefers this and it keeps her contained.

Here's an example of Ella's sweet spirit. Without prompting, she began to share her lunch with Grandma.

More family = more presents. Sutton was happy to have more paper to play in, and he loved his new jammies.

Christmas with children is so magical and fun. I'm sad that it's over and can't wait until next year!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We had a lovely Christmas Eve this year. The girls and I started off the day baking ridiculously delicious tea cakes. Seriously, they're the best sugar cookies we've ever had, and Grace said we had to bake our best for Santa (and our family).

Ella enjoyed decorating them with Travis. In true form, she ate more icing and M&Ms ("em-em-ems") than she put on the cookies.

She really wanted to play outside, so Travis bundled her up, apron and all, and they headed out for some playtime.

Once inside, she refused to take off the gear and insisted on watching a movie in her highchair while having a snack.

Mid-afternoon, we headed off to the family service at church, but not until I snapped a few pictures. It just cracks me up that I can't get all three of them to smile at me.

The church service was geared toward families with small kids, so we certainly fit the bill. Still, I was a little nervous because Grace is the only one that has ever been to big church, but Ella and Sutton did great! I'm proud to say that not of our munchkins cried or screamed, although we heard a lot of that! It helped that Poppy, Dory, Bubba, Chachi and Grambi were with us--lots of hands to be passed around to. The children's choir performed, and we saw the nativity story play. It was so special to watch and celebrate Jesus' birth with our family.

When we walked out of church, it was snowing really hard! So crazy to see snow in Dallas, much less after it had been 70 degrees the day before.

We braved the cold and made it home to eat our Christmas Eve dinner tradition--tamales! Then, it was time for another tradition. We let the kids open two gifts on Christmas Eve. First, new personalized Christmas ornaments, and then, Christmas pajamas.

I really wanted a cute picture of the crew in their Christmas jammies, but Ella refused to look at me. I got one with Trav's assistance...yes, that's his hand on Ella's head...

Poor Sutton. Grace loves to hold him like this.

Here are the personalized ornaments they got this year. We also give them old-fashioned glass ornaments that represent their interests the past year. The girls got cupcake ornaments, and I'm still searching for the perfect one for Sutton (I figure he doesn't care much).

The girls watched a bit of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (for the 100th time), and I caught them snuggling like this. Grace said she was protecting Ella.

Before going to bed, we got out Santa's special plate and cup to fill with cookies, milk and carrots for his reindeer. The girls were just giddy about it, and as soon as we set it all down by the fireplace, Ella reached over and poured the entire cup of milk onto the plate of cookies. She and Grace thought it was hilarious!

We cleaned up the mess, got Santa some fresh cookies and milk and rinsed off the carrots and decided that this would be a safer place for the special snack.

We started a new tradition this year, and my dad read the Christmas story for all of us. The girls nibbled on snow balls and actually listened for a while. At one point, Grace declared, "This is boring. There aren't even any kid pictures in your Bible." Sorry, Jesus, but the girl is used to her kid-friendly picture Bible. We switched to that, and they listed contently. After lots of hugs and night-night kisses, we continued our tradition of reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and tucked the girls into bed. I absolutely love being about to create and continue traditions for our precious babies. Christmastime is just magical!