Christmas '11

Well, I had some doubts, but I've finally made it to our Christmas post!  We were not woken up so very early in the morning (around 7:30 am!) and I barely had time to grab my camera and snap a quick (side view) picture of the post-Santa visit tree.

Then, I turned just in time to catch a picture of Amelia and Henry giving each other a quick, excited hug before coming down and discovering the goodies Santa left. (Please ignore my mid-paint job hallway.  Thank goodness that is FINALLY done!).

Amelia immediately spotted her #1 gift!  And she was pretty pumped!

Henry, on the other hand, really did not know what to think.  He stood on the steps for 5 solid minutes saying, "Santa, choo choo? Santa, choo choo?". (At least I think it was a question).  He did not ask for a train table, so it was really a pretty big surprise to both of them!

And Santa picked a pretty good gift, in fact!  It may be the number one toy played with in our house these days.

After opening the gifts, Amelia put on her new robe, had some hot cocoa, and tried out her new Monopoly Jr. game.  It is a super game for her and we've played in many times since!  In fact, it was a great year for games for Miss Amelia.  Other than Monopoly, Jr., she received Headbandz, Story Cubes, UNO, Trouble, and Qwirkle. 

Then it was off to my parents house to open gifts.  Turns out Kit wasn't only a hit with Amelia!

My nephew, Jacob, opening some Transformer play doh.

Henry looking rather dapper.

My dad is a very hard person to shop for.  Whenever I ask him what he would like for Christmas, he always says things like "handkerchiefs" and "socks".  This year, I pushed a little harder and he said he would like some sweatpants with elastic on the bottom and pockets.  He was very clear that he didn't want any "boring" colors like grey or black.  He requested bright blue, red, or green.  My mom told me NOT to pursue it, but I couldn't help it! The man never makes such specific requests.  They were very difficult to find, much more difficult than I could have imagined.  But, find them I did and I'm pretty sure I made his Christmas morning!

My mother-in-law made an incredible scrapbook for Amelia of her first two trips to Disney!  Amelia loves looking at it (and I do too!).  She did a great job and hopefully we will be adding some more pictures to it soon (like this winter when we return to Orlando!). Such a special gift!

When I got wind that Santa was bringing Amelia a new doll, I found a lady that could make matching PJ's for her and the doll.  She was very excited to put them on that night (and seems completely oblivious to the fact that the pajamas are about 3 sizes too big for her)!

Henry's favorite gift of the night may have been this box lid.  He kept saying "more boat ride, more boat ride".  It's true what they say about boxes and kids.  Sheesh.

 

What a fabulous Christmas where my family was spoiled once again!  We really are blessed in so many ways.