Christmas Part 2

Christmas was such a whirlwind!!! I am exhausted. But it was fun and good family time and it is always a meaningful time. Picking up from where I left off with Christmas part 1, I will start with our trip to Cheekwood for a 3rd visit to Santa. Carrie had asked for 3 things from Santa (Cinderella Vanity, Sleeping Beauty dress and princess legos) and she had only told him 1 thing at each visit so we needed to squeeze in a 3rd visit to make sure she could tell him she wanted the princess legos. They also had reindeer there which was a new one for us...we hadn't seen reindeer yet!

C in front of the reindeer. She said they were Dasher and Dancer.

Santa's sleigh was also there and we had not gotten in a sleigh yet so C insisted we wait in the long, cold line to get a turn in the sleigh.

Then we saw Santa and it went just as the other visits had...C thrilled and on her best behavior and H not thrilled and on her worst behavior. But C did get to tell him about the legos, thank goodness.

The next day, Papa and E arrived! The girls were so excited. They come every Christmas and it is always nice to have more family in Nash! And extra hands for me so I can get some stuff done :).

On Christmas Eve, we knew we would spend most of the day at the house, inside, so we decided to let the girls open a present from E and Mimi's presents since they had SO many to open Christmas morning. It also gave them something to do all day!

E gave C a Tinkerbell Look and Find book and a Rapunzel doll that she had asked for. She was so excited. She found everything in the book and played with Rapunzel alllll day. Rapunzel came with a magic easel that when you painted water on it, pictures showed up, so she really loved that! And he gave H some touch and feel books because she loves them and doesn't need a thing! Look how happy she was when he read her the Elmo one which had a big elmo puppet in it that he was doing...

Rapunzel...

More books...

Finding Tinkerbell things...

Still into her new books...

Then it was time to make the cookies for Santa. C helped me make them, then while she napped, G and I cookie cuttered them (my least favorite thing) and cooked them so they were ready to decorate when she woke up. She pretty much dumps a whole pile of something on the middle of every cookie.

But she had fun and got to eat a cookie which is heaven for her.

That night we went to Aunt Becky and Uncle Jims for our annual Christmas Eve family get together. I SO wish I had more pics and even some videos because it was SUCH a fun night. My cousins kids (4 of them ages 4-9) brought in their instruments and new microphone and sang Christmas carols. They are really good...2 play the fiddle, 1 the guitar and the 4 year old doesn't play yet. C and H LOVED it. C even got to sing a few Christmas carols at the mic which was adorable! She sang "Follow the Star", "Go Tell in on the Mountain" and "We wish you a Merry Christmas." To have that part on video would be so nice :(. She "did ballet moves" during the other songs they played...hilarious. And H, my anti social baby, LOVED it. She watched so intently and then in breaks between songs, she belted out her own blah blah songs and clapped and cheered and laughed. She was hilarious! It was a fun time celebrating with family and eating and watching the kiddos play. C loves to play with my cousin's kids...she calls them her cousins which they are, just maybe 2nd or 3rd. They are all so sweet and the girl, Neva, Carrie adores. She so looks forward to family events where she gets to see her!

They also had some football on which is where the men were a lot of the time :)

Kiddos.

Neva and Hayes. This pic just shows how good of a mood H was in. She normally won't let people she doesn't know well hold her without crying and she just ate up the whole night!!! (She also really just ate everything the whole night :) People are always amazing at her appetite...including me!)

That night, Santa came.

The girls slept great and I was like the kid who couldn't sleep because I was so excited. When C walked out, she was totally different than I expected her to be! We have a video, but it is too long, but she just walked down and just kind of took it all in. I feel like she was kind of in disbelief and just overwhelmed by it all!

Hayes, on the other hand, was happy as a clam!!!

Once C got into all her things, there was no stopping her. She wanted to tear into EVERYTHING! And she, of course, dressed up in her new Sleeping Beauty dress immediately.

Cy-Cy and BA got them this HUGE dollhouse! They were really excited. I know there will be years of entertainment with this.

We spent the day playing and prepping for Christmas dinner. We always have the big, traditional Christmas dinner. The men fry a turkey and mom and I (and some other places :) ) cook the rest. The food was SO yummy and the night was perfect. It was such a fun family day, but so tiring. I always wanted to stop and make sure we were all reminded of what we were really celebrating. So much of Christmas is lost in the stuff, but the true gift was baby Jesus, come to save us all. We are truly thankful.

A couple post present pics...

Girls loving their Barbie dog wash toy from Mimi. Have loved giving the dogs bubble baths!

And some sister time at C's new vanity which has been a HUGE hit around here.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!!