Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve we went to church, then had a yummy pot roast and opened Grandma's Christmas pajamas. Dress code: extremely red!

Then we called grandma to say thanks and merry Christmas, like we always do.

(if anyone out there knows how to keep my old point and shoot camera from totally washing out faces when I use the flash at night, I would be eternally grateful if you shared!)

We know that Santa's real favorite isn't cookies, but red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

We left him some on the plate we made - Henry made the wreath with his hand prints, Amelia painted the ornaments, Sophia painted the bow. We've made one every year for five years.

Santa loved the cupcakes so much, he left us some rock candy.

The girls had a REALLY hard time going to sleep - the Santa anticipation was just more than they could bear, especially Amelia. That's why once they were asleep, Santa took no chances!

I went back to church at 11 p.m., because I LOVE church on Christmas Eve. It's just about my favorite thing in the whole world. And honestly, I can't handle it with my kids. I take them to church almost every Sunday and it's great; but Christmas Eve I want to be alone at church. And so I went back, and it was sooooooo what I needed! I heard the same sermon a second time, and this time I got it - the reminder. My best Christmas gift this year, The Gift, the one that made me bawl with thanksgiving during every hymn, is the hope that we will get to see Violet again some day. I needed a little help opening my heart to Christ this Christmas, and that second hour in church helped me get there.

And so we celebrated! I guess everyone here's been pretty good, because Santa delivered - everything on everyone's list.

Henry's first peek. I LOVE this!!!! I will never forget carrying each of my kids into the living room their first Christmas. LOVE. Even at 6 a.m.

I made a really good breakfast casserole. I wish I could cook and pay attention to amounts of ingredients so I could share and re-create recipes. I sauteed some onion and mushrooms and then tore up some Italian bread and poured eggs and milk and a bunch of different cheeses and butter over it, then let it sit overnight and baked in the morning - we ate it for breakfast and again at lunch with a salad.

Our day...

Everyone's house looks like this at 10 a.m. on Christmas morning, right?

Every year there is one gift that is a total hit. Last year it was that school house thing (which they still play with often). This year, both girls asked for makeup, and Santa got them some Luna Organics play make up, and it was THE hit. They loved it, and it is awesome in so many ways - aside from feel-good ingredients, it's easy to remove (something you would think would be the case for all kids' make up, but is not!), it's sweet and subtle but still bright and fun enough for them, the way it's packaged it will last a long time. Just great stuff all around!! (this is my own personal review, Luna has no idea I exist)

A close second would be several packages of Calico Critters for Sophia - those things are sooo cute and the girls have been playing with them all day. I'm kind of secretly in love with those things, and really excited now that Sophia is old enough to play with them.

Henry is so smart (and a stinker)!! He got this walking thing, and the very first thing he did was push it up to the tree and use it to stand up so he could reach all the ornaments we hung above his reach!

At the end of the day, Sophia announced, like she does every year, "this was the best Christmas ever!"

Hope yours was the best ever too!