A little Christmas story

During this Christmas season I wanted to try to get the girls to think about others a little bit. They are so focused on themselves and what they want for Christmas. I thought buying presents for two children from an angel tree would be a good lesson for them. After church one Sunday, while Eric was at the habitat house, I started to tell them we were going to go shopping for presents for some little kids who didn't have as many things as they did. I tried to explain that God has given us a lot of nice things but not everybody in the world are as blessed as we are. Some children don't get many presents for Christmas so we can help a little kid have a good Christmas by buying them some gifts. I couldn't even get my "lesson" out before they started asking if they were going to get something at Target too. Lyla even tried to argue with me about whether or not some kids don't have many toys. After several minutes of this "pleasant" conversation I gave up. Maybe they're not old enough to grasp this concept yet. Maybe they have to do something more concrete. Maybe buying things for an unseen person is too abstract for them. Maybe next year.

About a week later, I was putting Grace to bed. Grace is a deep thinker and really works things over and over in her mind. Well, she had evidently been thinking about our conversation. During this same time, she had been trying to work through in her mind about how Santa and his elves are real. So, that night, here is part of our conversation.....

Grace: Mom, I've been thinking lately.
Me: Oh yeah? What are you thinking about tonight?
G: You know how you said some kids don't have very many toys at Christmas and they need us to buy some toys for them?
Me: Yes...
G: Well, does Santa bring our toys to us on Christmas morning?
Me: Yes...(I can see where this is going)
G: Well, if Santa brings our toys to us, then why wouldn't he bring the same number of toys to all the kids in the world? Why would he only bring a few to some kids and lots of toys to us?
Me: Well........uh.........that's a good question Grace!

I never really answered her question. That girl is too smart for me to keep up with!

Christmas with Grandma and Papaw Gardner

After being at my parents' house for a few hours we were off again to the Gardner house. The girls dove right into their presents when we got there. They both got new pajamas, Hannah Montana for Grace and Lightning McQueen for Lyla. Grace also opened some make-up and a Leapfrog reading system. Lyla got a remote control Lightning McQueen car, a Lightning McQueen camping chair and a Lightning McQueen racetrack. The racetrack was a big hit with everyone, even Grace.

Eric and his siblings went together to give his parents a gift card to Lowe's for paint along with Eric's promise to paint their downstairs for them.

After opening presents there we were off again to the next stop. We went to the extended Gardner family in Owensboro. The girls were given more gifts but they really enjoyed playing with their little cousin, Brianna. They carried her around all night being her "babysitters". They had a blast.

Brianna turned two this week, so she's really a little old for them to carry her around. Grace wouldn't take no for an answer though.

Christmas with Mimi and Papoo

After opening presents Christmas morning at home we headed to Indiana immediately. When we got there Julie and Mom were in full Food Network mode. Tragically, at lunch time we realized the turkey wasn't done. Julie was very stressed out, but we tried to save the morning by letting the girls open their presents before eating. Unfortunately, Julie missed all the girls opening their presents due to the turkey crisis. She was quite upset. In the end the turkey was delicious. The girls and Papoo built their traditional present tower, and the girls loved all of their presents. We finished the evening playing dominoes after the girls were asleep, which was way too late.

This is a picture of Reesi's makeup. She got a vanity table with make-up from Santa that morning. Isn't she fancy?!

Lyla got a big pirate ship! She loved it. You can even make the cannons fire.

Look at those blue eyes in this picture!

Poor Julie and Jason are the in the background slaving away on our lunch. Thanks guys!!!

Dad always tries to get Mom something nice for Christmas. This year he bought her a pretty gold necklace.

Christmas Morning

Everything went pretty smooth Christmas morning. I got up really early and got ready before the girls woke up. I wanted to be ready to go after present time. I actually woke them up at 7am! Here are some pictures. I didn't really get great pictures.

I wanted the girls to get baby dolls for Christmas. Lyla insisted her doll had to be a boy! So, I found a boy doll and she was excited to see it! Eric wanted the girls to get jerseys for Christmas because he likes to play football with them. They always want to wear his jerseys when they play so we thought they like to have one of their own that actually fits. Lyla was excited about hers and wore it that day. When Grace opened her jersey she said, "I AM NOT wearing this thing unless I'm going to a football game!".

We did get everything opened, batteries put in, paper in trashbags, breakfast eaten, bags to the van and we were on the road by 9:08am! Whew!

Christmas Decorations

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a busy day. I had lots to do to prepare for the next day. We had to finish laundry, pack suitcases, make cookies for Santa, make a breakfast casserole to have in the morning, go to church that night and if that wasn't enough, we decided to go to a movie too. I wasn't planning on taking the girls to a movie, but Joni said she was taking Reesi, so I decided it would be fun for us to go too. So I rushed all morning to get everything ready and done so we could make the 2:00pm movie. Little did I know Joni was going to the 1:00 movie, but that's another story. Anyway, I worked hard to get it all done because everything had to be completely ready to go the next morning so we could be out the door by 9am after opening presents!

I hadn't paid a bit of attention to the weather outside. When we left for the movie it was raining really hard. It just kept getting harder the closer we got to the movies. I was with the girls by myself, so I had to park in the downpour and walk all 3 of us in from way out in the parking lot. Grace had a raincoat, rainboots and a long skirt on. I had jeans, rainboots and an umbrella. Lyla had a regular jacket and regular shoes. So I carried Lyla and held the umbrella. Grace just had to run for it with her raincoat. It wasn't just raining at this point. It was a full blown storm. The rain was coming down at an angle! By the time we made it inside we were soaking wet! SOAKING WET! We went to the bathrooms to ring out our clothes. I rung Grace's skirt out in the sink. Lyla's pants were all wet too but not that bad. She insisted hers were bad too. So I had Grace take her skirt and socks off and tie Lyla's jacket around her waist like a skirt. Lyla took her pants and socks off and I put my jacket on her like a dress. I just had to suffer with my dripping wet jeans. We went into the movie just like that! I draped the wet clothes on the seats in front of us to dry, which they didn't. I froze the whole time b/c I was wet but the girls were OK in the jackets. I was just glad the movie was almost completely empty! When we got out of the movie, which Joni never showed up to because she went to a different one without telling me, it was sunny outside!

When we got home I very quickly peeled potatoes and put them in a pan to cook so we could have mashed potatoes with the roast I had in the crockpot. We left for church within 30 minutes of getting home from the movie, where they had a special Christmas Eve candlelight service. I didn't have time to mash the potatoes so I just let them in the strainer while we went to church. The service was nice but when it came time to light the candles I was so nervous that Lyla was going to catch us on fire! Everyone had their own candle to hold and if you know Lyla, she has a hard time being still. I just knew her hair or Grace's skirt was going to go up in flames.

So when we got home I mashed the potatoes to go with the roast. I was trying so hard to have a nice Christmas Eve dinner. But the potatoes were not working out so well. They were more like glue then mashed potatoes. Eric said they were fine. He'll eat anything, thank goodness. I thought they were gross! The next day Julie said, "Well, yeah, you can't leave cooked potatoes like that! Duh!" Oh, well, I'll know next time!

After dinner the girls made reindeer food to leave for Santa's reindeer. It was oats, glitter and carrots. They also left chocolate chip cookies that we made earlier in the day. After that, Eric read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Night Before Christmas" to the girls in the rocking chair. Half way through Grace got her foot pinched in the rocking chair and we had some drama. Can't do much around here without some drama!

Then they fed their elves and told them goodbye. The elves go back to Santa on Christmas Eve to help deliver the presents, so they were gone the next morning.

That was our Christmas Eve! As usual, I try to do too much and stress myself out. Maybe I'll learn one of these days. Luckily, the girls had a good day and they weren't stressed at all. They just kept telling me "Mom, it's Christmas Eve!".