Christmas morning finally arrived and we were ready for a great day. The only traveling we were going to do was across the driveway to have dinner with the Chrismans. This meant we had the whole morning to hang out and play.
Here is the obligatory top of the stairs picture. John had gone downstairs to make sure Santa had visited the house while we were sleeping and turned on the Christmas tree lights. The girls were excited, although Reese is clearly still a little anxious about what is about to happen. She's still getting the hang of this Christmas thing.
Then Reese opened up her stocking and saw that Santa had heard her wishes. Whenever we asked Reese what she wanted from Santa, she always said, "A lollipop!" And when pushed for more details, she would say, "Pink and big." Done and done. Good job, Santa. Hopefully all of her future wishes will be just as easy to fulfill.
Callie was also delighted to discover that Santa had fulfilled her most important wish for a rainbow loom. She couldn't wait to get started sorting through the hundreds of rubber bands and getting everything ready to make her first bracelet. Once this present was opened she only had eyes for the loom. It was fun to watch.
There were a lot of different gifts to play with, however. We don't mean to toot our own horn, but we were pretty darn pleased with some of the gifts we got for the girls that we hope will get them thinking in all sorts of creative and scientific ways. In the picture here they are playing with Reese's magnetiles, but Callie also received Snap circuit jr., and Goldieblocks which seem to be a hit. There were a few interesting moments, like when Callie saw all of the containers of play dough Reese had in her stocking. "Do you think Santa meant to put some of those in my stocking?" Callie asked. Santa will have to remember that in the future.
Of course, Grammy provided one of the biggest hits of the day. She bought the girls matching pajamas for them and their American Girl dolls. These have been the pjs of choice ever since the packages were opened. Grammy also sent stockings that provided practical items, such as floss and underwear, as well as fun items like headbands and lip gloss.
At one point early on Sarah had to specifically tell John to stop cleaning up all of the wrapping paper after each present was opened. Apparently John has an obsessive need to limit the amount of paper on the floor. Once his obsession was pointed out and contained, Reese could get back to thoroughly enjoying the wrapping paper chaos all around her. Although the girls had more gifts to open than they could have imagined, it did finally come to an end.
Once we had opened up our gifts, and John was allowed to clean up a little bit, we welcomed Sharon and Chris for a brief visit. All of their children and grandchildren were celebrating Christmas elsewhere, which in part explains why they were clearly showered and dressed while we were still in our pajamas. Their visit also included more unwrapping, which suited Callie and Reese just fine.
It may have taken us a while, but we did manage to shower and clean up before going over to the Chrismans for Christmas dinner. Now we have been over to the Chrismans quite a bit, and we know that they can put on a good meal. But we all agree that this was one of their finest displays of culinary expertise. It was impressive all around, and Sarah particularly liked the beef tenderloin with the horseradish sauce.
Not pictured here was Uncle Norman, Chris's uncle who we have come to know and love over the years. He is 93 years old and if you ask the right questions you can get some great stories from him about all he has seen and done.
Overall, it was a wonderful day, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We ended the evening with some solid relaxing, followed by a brief frenzy of packing. We needed to be out of the house by 5am on December 26 to get to Louisville so we could continue the Christmas festivities in Connecticut.
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