Christmas Part Three

Ah. The finale of Christmas. And I'm not going to lie...I couldn't sleep the night before. It wasn't just because I knew about one gift I was getting, or the gifts for Ellie or the full hanging stockings, or the pancakes I was going to make, I think it was the spirit of it all...being home, being together.


But I waited and didn't wake the sleepy girl up until she was ready, but then we both came downstairs together.

And first things first, Ellie opened her VeggieTales worship Cd...I actually think I'm as big of fan of this CD as she is, it's all the good old worship songs that I never get to here any more...just with cucumber and tomato voices...





And then her main gift...what I had been scoping out for the last six weeks at Costco, her baby doll with kitchen and nursery set. SO excited about this!




Of course, that means daddy has some work to do...yes, he is a direction reader.


But don't worry, Ellie gets in on the action.






Gotta love the bedhead.

But Christmas couldn't take too long because we had an important milestone date. Ellie's first haircut.



To be honest, I was a little nervous about this. See, when Pippy was a puppy and we took her to get groomed for the first time, they snipped her fluffy paws just a little too short, and, not going to lie, I did shed a tear because I didn't like her new do. However, for this event, I was nervous about my little girl's reaction to a complete stranger...not exactly her most favorite thing in the world.

So I jumped up in the chair and told her how much fun it was to wear a blanket around your neck...



But that didn't last, so we decided to just follow the munchkin around...



And as long as she had some animal crackers, she actually didn't mind too much!












Our pretty little girl's bob.

And because the day wasn't full enough with milestones, we put sweet pumpkin upstairs for her nap and spent the afternoon (LOVE three hour naps!) working and arranging her new big girl room...


Thank you, Papa and Nana!






Yes, that is a big girl bed! I don't think Chris and I slept a wink the last two nights just listening for any unusual bumps or sounds of her getting up to play or falling out of bed...but she's been an angel! Now if we can only get used to it...

And this was our Christmas Finale. It truly was the most wonderful time of the year...And now on to baby brother prep...

Christmas Part Two

It's only the luckiest of people that spread Christmas over six days. And not due to relatives who require separate visits because of tensions or bitterness or even due to airplane flights and delays, but merely the fact that this little family has just so many people to love in our life!

So Christmas Part Two was our jaunt over to the great hometown of my dear hubby, GB.





And the minute we walked in, Ellie knew Christmas was in the air...





We kicked off the celebrating with our own room at the local pizza place, laughing, coloring, baby cooing and present opening...





















And we tried to pose the girls...Ellie's not really one for posing...let's just say she's artsy...original...impromptu...a toddler.



And before the Christmas eve service the next day was Nana's birthday party for Jesus. And, because it was Nana's birthday party for Jesus, Ellie got a present too.











And mac and cheese for dinner... But I mostly just had to put this picture in 'cuz I think she's so cute...




We have this thing called love...


Checking the calorie count...

And believe me...I tried to take a angelically posed Christmas Eve picture of my little squirm worm.










But we've discussed how Ellie feels about posing...
It just didn't happen. But, goodness, was I proud of the munchkin. She smiled and offered her dolly to everyone she met at church that night. And played "let's-trade-church-bulletins" with the two rows behind us the entire time.

And precious girlie had to open one present before bed Christmas Eve...silly thing was too tired to even lift her head off of mommy...but I didn't mind...






And wrapped up the evening with cookies and milk for Santa.



What these pictures don't show is the utter devastation Ellie went through when she realized the cookie and milk weren't for her. That was definitely not a photogenic moment. Oh my goodness. Poor girl.

But given the goodies and love she has been spoiled with for the past six days...can't feel that bad for her...see, there's still one more Christmas Part to come...