Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! On Christmas Eve we had my brother, sister-in-law, niece and Dad over for dinner. Right when they walked in the door we noticed that Leah and Annabelle were dressed exactly alike (and it was not planned)! It was really cute. Leah was so excited to see her cousin and recently started saying her name. The girls played nicely all afternoon.

We munched on some appetizers and watched a video of my Nana that my cousins put together. Since we were not able to attend her memorial, my cousins made sure that we got a copy of the DVD. It was nice to watch and brought back a lof of happy memories. I looked over at my Dad and could see he got a bit teary-eyed (there were several photos of my mom included). We had dinner in the late afternoon. We made a turkey and ham and several sides. We had way too much food! Everyone went home with plenty of left-overs. I also made a variety of dessert which even awhile after we ate, no one was really hungry for it.

After dinner, the girls opened up all of their presents. It was so fun to see them get excited and play with their toys. They were definitely into it much more this year than they were last year. By the end of the evening, you could tell that both girls had enough - it had been a long day with little naps! We said good-bye to everyone and got ready to settle in for the evening. Leah got a bath and we all put on our pajamas to get ready for Santa to visit our house that night. We watched tv for a bit and then hit the hay.

The next morning Leah slept in until about 8:00 am and we all came downstair as a family. Leah was so happy when she saw Santa had come. She was yelling in excitement. She immediately ran to her play vanity and sat down on the stool. She sat there for a good 10 minutes before we could get her to take a look at her other presents. Santa brought her a Barbie Power Wheels 4 Wheeler. She sat on it and pressed the button to make it move. It immediately freaked her out. We caught it on video. It was pretty cute. She opened a handful of presents before she fizzled out. All she wanted to do was play with the toys she had already opened. We had NO plans for the day, so we were in no rush for her to get them opened. We took a break and watched the Disney Parade for a bit before going back to open the rest. Santa was really good to Leah this year, probably because Leah was SUCH a good girl this year.

It felt kind of weird not to have any plans on Christmas Day this year, but it was also really nice that we were able to stay in our PJ's the entire day! We took a family nap and snacked on leftovers all day. I had urged my Dad to come over and stay with us because we were going to be home the entire day. He decided he wanted to do his own thing and stay home. I don't blame him, but I didn't want him to be alone. Leah played with all of her toys for a good chunk of the day. She especially loved her vanity. She played with it for at least 3 hours. Santa also brought her pretend makeup and hair accessories. She loved it. I love that she is such a girly girl! I didn't take a shower until almost 7:00 pm at night and then put on a fresh pair of pajamas. It was wonderful. Even though it was very low key, we had a wonderful Christmas! I loved seeing all of the smiles on my baby girl's face. I still have 2 more days before I have to go back to work and I am definitely looking forward to my time off! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Here is to hoping for a better 2012!