Scribble & Scrap: Merry and Bright

Christmas Day 2011

It was a lovely day. That nearly sums it up, but here are some things I want to remember:

My (dare I say it) best Christmas present- from my niece and Godchild, Aila. The left half of the ornament is mine and the right half is hers and together we make a full heart. And my heart is so very full just thinking of that.

{A special thanks to my best friend for picking this out because Aila is just too young yet to think of something so thoughtful, though I know when she's older she'll treasure this too!}

We spent the morning and early afternoon at Matt & Krissy's. The kids were SO excited to show us all that Santa had brought them. It was a great mix of over-excited Christmas cheer and some lovely quiet moments like this. Aila had taken over Willy's LeapPad for awhile and was quietly playing away with a little help from Mama. Yes, take note. Aila was being quiet. If I remember correctly that lasted maybe 3 minutes :)

Uncle Dan got in some play time, as he does every Christmas morning :)

Aila's big gift from Santa was her ride-on giraffe. And boy does she love it.

This kind of climb-up-and-play makes me so happy because soon enough they'll be too old and too big and too cool to cozy up to Uncle Dan like this.

Opening gifts with Aila this Christmas was likely the thing that made me happiest all year until that date. Aila and are kindred spirits in so many ways, as I've mentioned before, so finding and making gifts for this little chickie is easy for me. But watching her receive them just made me so incredibly happy. She ooohhed and ahhed and gasped as she opened each package. She wanted to immediately open the gift, play with it or wear it. Right away! And as she opened more and more garments she just kept layering them. This is my silly girl wearing her pjs with ruby slippers, a Dorothy apron and a flowered apron, a tutu and legwarmers that I made for her and her Hello Kitty bracelet and necklace! Priceless.

Willy's big gift from Santa was his Remote Control Polar Express Train! He'd been talking about it for months and had the time of his life moving it back and forth with the remote, making the sounds "CHOO CHOO" with the press of a button!

I love this shot of his little piggy toes peeping out.

It was great seeing my hand knits so well received. I love this hat on Kris. The color is great. Disclaimer- I know she hates this photo, and I'm sorry Kris! But its the only one I have.

Matt had been heavily hinting at his desire for a hat- "one like Conor's!" so that's exactly what he got :)

It was a great morning. Dave and Marilyn came over. We all ate pancakes and eggs and enjoyed a nice late breakfast together. There were rounds and rounds of gifts. Smiles and laughs all around!

We changed up the "schedule" a bit this year and had dinner at Mom's instead of lunch so we didn't have to rush. It was perfect! We arrived mid-afternoon, ate appetizers, had some wine and played games!

The house looked perfect as always!! :)

There was a heated game of Skip-Bo before dinner! Gail gave Gram a card she needed by accident, which didn't bother Gail any. When Gram asked why on earth she'd do that, Gail simply replied "Its Christmas!" Gram's response "Not in cards its not!!"

We ate our traditional Christmas dinner. Sauce. Eggplant (oohh the eggplant), Artichokes, Meat and Eggs. Salad. The works! And after dinner, we did something non-traditional (but great)- we Skyped with Michael and Monique!!

There were yet more gifts to open at Mom's.

Grammy & Aunt Milly

Mom & Dad

--- I bought this hat for Dad- it has lights under the brim. Mom bought her peepers in VT this fall. Yep, they're lighting the world on fire those two! ---