Archive for December, 2009
I must admit I was a little worried about the big Santa gift – the 40+ inch Winnie the Pooh. I mean, really, you should have seen the box he came in. It was about the size of my car and was so big that we literally ‘hid’ the box in full sight in the dining room because there was no where else that it would fit. I figured it would either scare her witless or she would love, love, love it.
Chalk one up for Mama. It was a home run. She more than loved it. She ADORED it.
All day long she loved on him, she kissed him, she hugged him, she sat on him.
“My Pooh, Mama?”
“Yes, baby.”
“Ohhhhhh. THANK you.”
She even ate sugar cookies with him.
Yeah, they had red icing. How’d you guess?
Mickey and Minnie got their share of attention, too.
As did the easel and accessories from Grandma and Grandpa. Even though this wasn’t technically a Santa gift it ended up being gifted on Christmas morning since we kind of forgot that it needed to be assembled. Twice, since J refused to read the instructions the first time.
Look…a tender moment between dad and daughter. One in which he gives a 2 year old a whiteboard marker and then turns her loose.
Which, on further reflection, was not a good idea at all. If you look closely at the pictures you can see the progression of marker on clothes, skin, and brand new stuffed animals. FYI: baby wipes will remove most fresh dry-erase marker from clothing and Disney characters. Trust me on this.
There were also stickers and stampers, of course.
The morning ended in something resembling the aftermath of a really successful keg party what with Mickey passed out on the side, Pooh somewhat askew, a shoe hanging from the fireplace, and Minnie in a less than ladylike pose.
Yeah, we all needed a nap after this Christmas morning.
and left the most ginormous Winnie the Pooh ever. With friends, even.
Sophie gave it a two paws up.
Come to think of it the rest of the animals were pretty happy, too.
Sam was entranced by oh, just about everything. This included the off-key harmonica concert AND the constant nagging to pleasedon’teatthepaper and leavethefreakinglightsalone and getyournoseoutofeverything, youstupiddog.
Emma? In her usual perch on the top of the sofa – surveying the commoners and refusing to set even one paw on the floor whilst all the craziness was going on.
Lily-cat? I always knew she was the smartest one of the bunch. She ran like heck when we came home and didn’t surface until later the next day.
As per our own newish family tradition we spent the Christmas holidays at home instead of traveling long distances (in separate directions) to see our families and, as we’ve done in the past, we went to our good friends’ house for dinner, Santa, and the gift kickoff.
A few Before pictures:
It was a madhouse. I think it was their biggest crowd yet AND they did it in a smaller house than last year. And Santa was real – well, it wasn’t her husband or mine this year so he must have been, right?
We got there a little early so the girls could hang out.
We tried to pose them in front of the tree. Yeah, right. Have you ever tried to get two 2 year olds to look sort of happy and in the same direction at the same time?
We thought food might help. Nah, not so much. Or maybe we just weren’t fast enough with it.
Ava was a little wigged out because there were soooooo many people there but she soon found a champion to look after her. They had a blast playing together – it was so sweet.
Santa came soon after. It was not pretty.
And yes, I felt horrible and swooped in to rescue her about .4 seconds later. I do have to say, though, that she was quite excited with the elephant that Santa brought her AND the cookie(s) I bribed her with to get her to stop crying.
Since we still had a long evening ahead of us we wrapped it up soon thereafter and headed home to tackle the mountains of gifts under our tree. Seriously, mountains. I will spare you the hours of video and the hundreds of photos – just know that she was all about the opening of gifts this year. She wanted to open hers, ours (the pitiful few we had in comparison), and the few we had still sitting around for others (yet to be delivered).
I said I’d spare you hundreds of photos. I didn’t say I wouldn’t post just a few.
Itching to get started:
Digging in:
Playing the blues on her new harmonica (with an appreciative audience):
And, mind you, there’s still more to come. Christmas Eve gifts are from Mama & Daddy & Family & Friends so Santa has yet to visit to stuff the stockings (yes, he did get a bit ahead of himself with Mama’s this year as seen in the earlier photographs) and bring the big Santa gift(s)…
Oh, wait. I almost forgot the After picture:
We were sorting out her closet in a futile attempt to make room for all the clothes we knew were coming for Christmas when it somehow turned into a mini fashion show.
Although I’m still not quite sure what look she was going for.
Pimp? Heroin chic? Homeless?
Oh heck, what do I know? I’d live in jeans, sweaters, and long sleeve t-shirts (all black, of course) if I could. She could be the next hot thing in Haute Couture what with the leopard pattern (faux, as to not offend PETA), asian inspired silk pants and shoe, and the fleece robe complete with Mickey Mouse ears.
She designed it. My job was to photograph it.
“Take peek-tures, Mama.” So, I did. With my phone because the camera wasn’t handy.
I think this was the fashion model with attitude pose:
Then we got a close up of the hat and a slightly sweeter and more innocent face:
Wait – there were more models to photograph. She set up the shot just so and commanded me to hurry up.
Then a group shot designed solely, in my opinion, to show that she is clearly the most beautiful supermodel in the whole, wide world.
And then a tiny bit of goofing off with friends to end the long day of hard work.
