Christmas

Eliza loved the jingle bells on our tree - we found them all over the house

Christmas this year was very relaxed and laid back, but extremely fun as well.  Eliza liked opening presents, but enjoyed what was inside even more.  Christmas is always special, but in the eyes of an innocent child, Christmas truly does become magical.  Although we didn't enjoy the presence of our sweet little boy at Christmas time, we enjoyed spending this one on one time with Eliza and seeing how much joy she experienced with her new toys - no matter how exhausting. 

 

As per tradition, we started our Christmas celebration on the 23rd of December by sporting our annual Christmas jammies.  I don't know what my problem was with making our jammies this year, but I made so many mistakes with every pair.  I'm actually amazed that I had enough material to make 3 complete pairs considering I had to re cut an entire leg.  Surprisingly enough, my pants fit over my enormous belly.  I guessed on Eliza's pair - not using a pattern.  They had some difficulty staying up. 

We invited some friends over for a pajama ableskiever party.  We enjoyed great danish pancakes and a few games of Guesstures and Catch Phrase.  Eliza helped make the ableskeiver being ever so talented to stir the batter with her mouth. 

We ended the evening with a Christmas concert put on by our family members, and our traditional sleep over under the Christmas tree.  Eliza was so excited by this, it took her forever to go to sleep.  Finally at 11:00 pm, she dozed off with her head wedged between my shoulder blades.  Throughout the night, Bruce had to move her so I could roll over.  When I got up to go to the bathroom in the night, she must have sensed that I was no longer there because she woke up.  Sure enough, she could only go back to sleep with her head wedged in between my shoulder blades.  It wasn't the best nights sleep, but it's not really intended to be - it's a special tradition that I hope our children will remember and look forward to. 

 

 

Christmas eve was pretty low-key (we all took a couple of naps).  We watched Christmas movies, ate donuts, and cleaned up the house to get ready for Santa Claus.  I wanted to attend a Christmas Rhythms program advertised by the non denominational church down the road from us.  Thinking it would be a wonderful concert of uplifting Christmas music, I was ready to introduce yet another tradition.  Despite how unique the program was, we were sorely disappointed.  Not expecting a rock concert, nor the most nontraditional, undoctrinal Christmas sermon, we left without the feeling of peace and hope one usually expects to feel at a church service.  The preacher didn't even say amen - instead he ended by saying, "we're going to celebrate - let it rip" and walked off the stage as a drum line came pounding down the aisle.   Both Bruce and I agree that Handel's Hallelujah chorus is more powerfully done without drums, electric guitars, and hologram fireworks. 

When our door bell rang around 6:00 that evening, we were quite surprised to find a pile of presents on our front door step - we were "santa-tized".  With three additional presents dropped off by secret Santa and four gifts from the students I tutor and teach piano to, Eliza ended up with way more things than intended. 

Opening Christmas presents was an all day affair.  Eliza didn't care how many presents she had (which ended up being a lot), she was mostly interested in playing with the toys she was given.  We had to keep coaxing her to open another one.  We would let her play with her new toy for awhile before giving her another one.  We ended up opening presents in three shifts (morning, afternoon, and evening) - thus it really did turn out to be an all day affair.  We attended a brunch at our stake president's house that the whole ward was invited to.  The food was absolutely amazing and I didn't have to cook a bit of it.  Christmas brunch at the Peterson's house has now become a tradition of our family. :)


I found this child's rocking chair still unassembled in its original box at a garage sale for $4.00. She was thrilled that it was just her size; however, I think she will like it better when she can get in and out of it on her own.

Even though it was the second gift, this one took the cake. At first, she casually teared at the wrapping paper. When she saw what it was, she vigorously tore the rest of the paper off and wanted the doll out of the box immediately.

Once the doll was out, she never let it out of her arms - it went everywhere with her for the day, including the Peterson's brunch.

After opening the stroller, she immediately put the doll in the stroller and took off. Maneuvering down the hall proved to be a bit more difficult - she needed daddy's help I'm actually surprised she knew what to do with it; this is her first time playing with a doll. She played with this one for half an hour before we could get her to open another one. I'm glad that she enjoyed her gifts so much. She is such a little mom to this doll. She once tried giving her doll a bath, and here she is sharing her sippy.

I found over $100 worth of Little People houses and accessories for $10 at a garage sale.  She mostly likes driving around the car, and pushing all the buttons that make noise in the house.  She might be a little young for this toy yet, but I couldn't pass up the deal.  

 

Bruce gave me these storage tubs to help organize the oodles of baby clothes we have.  Unlike the cardboard boxes I used before, these totes are mouse proof  (more on that later).

 

Bruce and I must think alike, either that or we really wanted this game - we gave each other the same thing. (Anyone up for a challenge??)
 

By the end of the third round of presents, Eliza was pretty worn out and not at all interested in opening more presents (like I said she got too many - Santa only brought her 3). Here she is very tired and holding one of the secret Santa gifts.

As a family, we got a double bike trailer that we will be sure to enjoy when summer time comes around, and I got a deep freeze. I seriously feel like I have so much freedom with a deep freeze - when I find good sales on meat and other freezer food, I can now buy as much as I want.:):)


Backtracking even more, on December 15, our ward had their annual Christmas party. They had a wonderful program that was focused on the story of Christ's birth interspersed with some music. Santa Claus was sitting in the foyer at the beginning of the party to greet the children and was available for pictures. I liked that he was there, but wasn't the central point of the party like it most often is. Eliza fell asleep on the way to the party and stayed asleep for awhile. When she woke up, we tried getting a picture with Santa. She wouldn't sit on his lap, but she would sit on Santa's elf's lap. What a handsome elf with a great costume. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas - full of playing games and quality family time spent together. May all our days be full of such joy.