We started Christmas Eve with a quick trip to the pediatrician (as in we were in and out in less than 20 minutes...super impressive!) and later had to make an unplanned run to Target in the pouring rain...that was a bit of a nightmare but I was just glad we didn't have to go to Wal-Mart after I saw the line of cars trying to turn into the parking long. Other than these two unplanned excursions our day went according to plan!
Yesterday afternoon we went to the children's Christmas Eve service. As always it was excellent. Some of the children of the church did the prelude music and they did such a good job! The children were also readers and then Dr. Thomas and two of the other pastors did the lesson. I have loved all the children's programs our church did this Christmas season!
After church the girls and I came home and Paul went back to work. My crazy, puddle loving children went and played outside in the rain. They had begged me to let them all the way home from church and they were so stir crazy as it had rained for the last 3 days so I finally gave in and let them run loose. It ended up creating a great opportunity to go ahead and get baths. We ate dinner a little early and once Paul got home we started in on our Christmas Eve traditions! We watched Polar Express, drank hot chocolate, and ate candy canes and other yummy goodies! The girls were SO excited, although Emmie was a little unsure about Polar Express at first but once it started she was fine.
After Polar Express the girls headed to bed and then Emmie and Ellie popped back out of their room because we'd forgotten to write a letter to Santa...oops! Emmie quickly wrote a letter, we put out some snacks for Santa and the reindeer, and then we went outside (in the rain) and the girls spread their reindeer food out (oatmeal, sugar, and sugar crystals, I believe). Emmie got it from school and was very concerned with making sure we remembered to put it out...apparently this is a very important step in the preparing for Santa process!
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| (I wrote the last part per Emmie's instructions. She cracks me up sometimes.) |
The girls were PERFECT at bedtime last night. They didn't' come out of their room, or play around, and they were both asleep within about 30 minutes. It was delightful! They know that Santa doesn't come until everyone's asleep and they were ready for him to visit their house! After the girls were asleep Santa made his appearance and left some great presents...he also visited bathroom (perhaps with Emmie's new Elsa doll in tow) and left some ice crystals on the mirror which absolutely thrilled the girls!
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| Santa was here! |
On a side note, I don't think I've ever really shown these up close on the blog before. My mom has made stockings for all of us and I LOVE all of them. Mine is the one I had growing up!
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| (Credit goes to Emmie for all the time she spent supervising Gran to ensure that she had Ruthie's stocking done on time!) |
This morning the girls were up at about 730. I had the monitor in their room so that I would hear them wake up and we could all see what Santa brought together. Emmie woke up first and I heard her say Ellie's name in such an excited voice...I love the joy of Christmas through a child's eyes! I went in their room and while Emmie was excited about Christmas she was very disappointed that it hadn't snowed. I think she'd somehow gotten it in her head that it's supposed to snow on Christmas. She's still a little distressed over the idea that South Carolina does not get very much snow....sorry kid, no white Christmases for you.
The girls were excited to check out their Santa gifts. They all got what they asked for and were also thrilled with their surprises! Ruthie was funny...she didn't really know what was going on....she mostly just watched the big girls! Franklin had the best reaction by far...he was SO EXCITED! He couldn't wait to check out the treats in his stocking and if you mentioned presents at all he was over to you in a flash to see if you had one for him...I do love the little puppy!
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| Franklin educating Ruthie on the whole Christmas thing. |
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| Franklin checking his stocking...he was moving so much I had trouble getting a picture! |
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| Aurora and Super Girl! (All day you'd hear one of them yell "help" and whoever was"super girl" would run to save the day!) |
After we looked at all the gifts from Santa, we ate our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of cinnamon rolls...always a hit at this house!
About the time we finished breakfast, Gran, Grandaddy, and Uncle Ben arrived to spend the day with us. We were so glad they were able to come and celebrate with us and we loved getting to spend time with them, especially with Ben as he generally is only able to come home twice a year. Once the girls had shown off their new stuff we sat down and opened presents (once again Franklin was over the moon excited with the festivities and the presents for him). We all were blessed with many wonderful gifts.
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| Dorothy...Ellie LOVES her Wizard of Oz book and Dance Theater of Columbia is performing it this year and the girls are so excited! |
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| Checking out Uncle Ben's calendar...the girls loved looking at all the pictures! |
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| One of the few times Ruthie paused long enough to put some effort into opening a present. |
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| Jasmine and her Elsa doll...it's a princess paradise! |
My mom brought all the fixings for Low Country Boil and it was really a perfect Christmas Day meal!
To finish off the meal we had a special dessert. Every time the girls see my dad they ask him if he brought ice cream (he makes a delicious homemade Cookies and Cream) so he made ice cream for us today. The girls, especially Ellie, were thrilled. Ellie talked about it all day and was so cute as she just sat at the table while we cleaned up the dishes and waited for her ice cream...she wasn't taking a chance on missing out on her favorite dessert! Ellie loved all her presents but I'm pretty sure her favorite part of the day was the ice cream....she made sure to put in her request for ice cream for the next time Grandaddy comes to our house! (On a side note, Ruthie did not get any ice cream as she slept through the meal and dessert...we do have some leftovers to give her another day though...she wanted some so badly when we were at the beach this summer and I can't wait to see if it lives up to her expectations!)
After lunch we all hung around the house and enjoyed spending time with each other. It was so nice to be able to relax and spend time with the people we love!
This evening as I snuggled with the girls in their bed I asked them each what their favorite present was. (I love asking them questions like this when we snuggle at night...they're relaxed and sleepy and there's nothing else going on so they will stop and really think before they answer.) Emmie said her favorite present was her puzzle that she can color (it's a black and white puzzle with Minnie in the middle and it came with crayons to color in the puzzle..it was from the dollar bin at Target!). Ellie said her favorite presents were her Dorothy dress up dress (I stocked up when Target had their costumes BOGO and the girls both LOVED their new dress up clothes...they spent all day dressed up), and her Bernstein Bear book and Charlotte's Web. Ruthie of course couldn't tell me what her favorite present was ,and really she was mostly oblivious to the unwrapping and new presents, but I think she would have said her new books and the bunny bank from Uncle Ben (it had a bow...she LOVED the bow and kept kissing/trying to bite the bank). She did also like the tube of toothpaste in her stocking...she kept chewing on it lol.
We had a quiet end to our day and our ready for Christmas with the Edwards' tomorrow!
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