Christmas has come!

God is with us! Time to celebrate Christmas! And this year, we've had lots of helpers. Grandpa Les, Grandma, Aunt Laura, Uncle Chris and Uncle Brian arrived a few days before the holiday to begin the festivities.

We all approached the gathering apprehensively after last year's fiasco. What's more, snow was expected on arrival day! Would everyone make it in? Would we all acquire a nasty stomach virus? Yes, and no! What a perfect combination for Christmas joy! Now we could really have a good time.




We did a lot and a little: there was plenty of time for low-key crafts with Aunt Laura and Grandma, stories, feasting and general playtime. The girls all made it to a magical kids' museum, where the little ones played vet clinic for 30-45 minutes at a time, crafted to their hearts' content, pretend grocery shopped, and much more.

The near-constant attention, plentiful treats and little presents spoiled the girls quite handily, but they loved every minute. Rumor has it, they even managed to get Uncle Brian and Uncle Chris to play princesses with them. Elise amazed everyone with her newfound abilities to carry on extensive conversations, and Kalina wowed Grandma, Grandpa Les and Uncle Brian with a mini ballet recital when they first arrived (she'll be beginning lessons in January!), in addition to other skills they'd improved upon since last year.


We also decorated a gingerbread house, which will probably become a yearly tradition as the kit made it incredibly simple. Despite Mommy's stinginess on how much candy could be consumed versus added to the house (after all, she had noticed, behavior does not improve with the addition of sugar!), the kids had a great time, and the structure is relatively covered with carefully placed candy and frosting.

As our guests were leaving Christmas Eve, our "Christmas" was the Saturday prior. Although the girls were a bit confused as to why Santa Claus hadn't arrived yet, they consented to go ahead and open some presents. They loved the craft supplies, soft penguin ornaments and everything else, but the Play-Doh princess castles produced the most obvious amount of sheer joy. We got started on them right away, the perfect distraction away from the giant Christmas dinner in the works. Uncle Chris and Uncle Brian get gold stars for hanging in there with all the pink and purple.


That evening, we all went to see the lights at the zoo "Bootiful! Let's run!" was Elise's constant exclamation through the magical displays. We saw penguins and bugs in addition to the lights, and by then most of us were cold enough (or winded enough) to call it a night.








Our guests returned to their homes on Christmas Eve, a sad change of tidings especially for the two little girls. But as we could affirm that another important "guest," by the name of Santa Claus, would be visiting that night, they cheered up well enough.

We donned the Christmas dresses (which got a surprising amount of use this season!) for Christmas Eve church, where the kids surprised us by preferring to stay in childcare rather than come with us to church (which they'd done for Sunday church, too!). I was a bit disappointed, actually, but the service was lovely, and even more lovely was picking up two smiling girls afterward.

We couldn't resist looking at more Christmas lights on the way home, nor could we resist letting the kids each open one present, the one from each other. It was Kalina's suggestion, a couple weeks ago. "Elise can open her present from me when she gets up from her nap!" I managed to hold her off until Christmas Eve, but soon Elise was the proud owner of the purple bear she'd been eyeing in the grocery store (and making up stories about!) and Kalina was hugging a giant Hello Kitty, a re-gift, actually, from my childhood.

After a quick supper, we read Christmas stories by the fireplace, left a cookie and carrots out for Santa, scattered "reindeer food" on the lawn and tucked into bed.

Santa must have made his appearance, because the next morning, the cookie was reduced to crumbs and the stockings were bulging. The kids dug in, and the intensive sharing negotiations began.


Too much activity, too much sugar and too little sleep made for two, um, somewhat Scroogey girls, but we still had a wondrous Christmas day. We took our time with gifts, opening and playing with them before moving onto the next. Elise insisted on donning anything wearable (see picture).





Highlights included Daddy's Junior Explorer kit (complete with hats, magnifying glasses, and bug-finding paraphernalia), fairy costumes and princess castle playsets. A little from each world, I suppose.






Due to the current moods, we decided that naptime/downtime was non-negotiable and waited until afterward to go to Grandpa's house. Uncle Tom was waiting for us there, and Aunt Nancy and her dogs appeared via computer, so we managed to assemble the whole family. Kalina and Elise were tickled at seeing the presents we'd mailed to the dogs being torn open, and I believe the feeling was mutual as the girls dug into their gifts.


The onset of evening was met with tears, as first Kalina, and then Elise, and nearly Mommy, bemoaned the fact that Christmas was on its way out. Although I insisted that with more family on the way and lots more treats and celebrating, it's really only just begun, I knew how they felt. We love Christmas. Make it stay! Or at least come again next year.







Fortunately, more fun was planned! We enjoyed low-key playtime with Uncle Tom and Grandpa, and a trip to the Botanical Garden. Then, Uncle David and Aunt Debbie arrived, and soon we were in full-out celebrating mode again. We enjoyed a cocoa and animal cookie party with Aunt Debbie, and, what's more, it snowed: the girls frolicked in the backyard for at least an hour Saturday morning.



The highlight of their visit had to be the fireworks. Since I'm not crazy, I haven't allowed the girls stay up until 10:00 to see fireworks on the 4th of July (because it would, actually, mean staying up until 11:00 or 11:30). But I would happily ferry them to see a display at 6:30, despite the chilly temperatures! We even had pizza beforehand.

Elise was a bit nervous about fireworks, but after seeing a few purple ones, felt more comfortable. And  then ecstatic. "Boom!" she yelled whenever a firework exploded above our heads. Kalina was excited the whole time. At first she could only stare, with a huge grin on her face. Soon, however, she got the idea that she could make requests. "A pink one, please!" she'd call out. Sure enough, we'd eventually see a pink one. "A purple one for Elise!" she'd call out again. It was magical on so many levels.

And now, the celebrating is over and we're trying our hardest to find things to look forward to in the new year. Fortunately, among our resolutions are: ice skating, ballet lessons (and possibly some more Gymboree for Elise), at least one trip to return our guests' visits, a Valentine's Day party of sorts and much more. In addition, Elise has resolved to no longer hit her sister.

Merry Christmas, happy New Year!