Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas! Despite the fact that Blair was diagnosed with walking pneumonia a few days before Christmas (she's fine and was a trooper the whole time), it couldn't have been much better. Brian and I usually trade Thanksgiving and Christmas ... meaning Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine one year, then vice versa the next year. It was my year for Christmas, so the whole family descended on our house and we had so much fun! We had a total of 7 adults, 3 children and 5 dogs present, so it was as laid back as a gathering of that size can be. :) Blair had a blast with Olivia and Abigail ... O even spent Christmas Eve night with us, so Santa killed two birds with one stone and the girls had a great time!

A few random memories:
- We had an Elf on the Shelf, who Blair named Squishy. I heart Squishy and wish that he could stay with us all year ... talk about incentive for her to be good!

- The day that I brought Squishy home, I presented the box and told Blair that Santa sent this present for her. She looked at it, paused for a minute, then sadly said "But I really wanted a rocking horse." I then had to explain that this wasn't her Christmas present, just a little package from Santa. :)

- The rocking horse request came out of left field. She'd been saying that she wanted a new swing set from Santa. Her old one was one of those plastic toddler ones, and she has WAY outgrown it. Then, as we were decorating the Christmas tree, she found an old wooden rocking horse ornament that either Brian or I had made as a child - you know the kind I'm talking about ... it was pre cut, and you got to paint it? Didn't everyone make those? Anyway, she decided right then that she also wanted a rocking horse for Christmas. Sure wish she had made that declaration before Black Friday, when Santa scored a great deal on the swing set!

- The rocking horse Santa brought was actually not so much a rocking horse, but more of a jumping horse on springs. She came down on Christmas morning and looked at it for a good minute before she looked at me and said "but i really wanted a rocking horse." I had to explain that it was a rocking horse, it just didn't look like the ornament she'd found.

- We baked a birthday cake for baby Jesus. We were also going to read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, but the Boog tuckered out before we got to it.

- I have a ceramic nativity set that my mom gave me, and it has all the parts and pieces ... donkeys, camels, sheep and all. I was in the shower one morning, and I heard Blair come in with Brian close behind. He told her to tell me what she'd done ...
"I broke it just a tiny bit mommy." One of the camels now has three legs. :)

- She's already working on her list for next year. To say that she "gets" Santa now is an understatement! We'll have to work more on the true meaning of Christmas next year and less on Santa, for sure.

- Also out of left field, she decided at the last minute that she wanted Santa to bring her a watch. Because she's super busy and needs to know what time it is. Don't believe she can tell time? When she put on the watch, I asked her what time it was ... without missing a beat, she replied: "It's thirty o'clock."