Christmas 2012

Christmas was definitely a success this year! Elizabeth was able to attend as a full-fledged little person this year, instead of just as an embryo with waving arms and legs like she did last year. Evie was actually able to appreciate and participate in our Christmas traditions this year, too. For example, when we were still in Idaho for Thanksgiving, Todd helped my dad and brother put their lights up on the house before the major snowfalls in December made the roof too slippery. Anyway, as soon as they turned on the lights to make sure that they work, Evie wanted to go outside to gawk at the pretty "nights," and we practically had to wrestle her back inside. Since then, every time we drive past a lit house at night, she excitedly points out the lights to the rest of us. So, when we finally put up our own Christmas tree and decorated it with our own lights, it was as if Christmas had come early. ;)

Every year, our local mall has Santa come in for a couple weeks before Christmas, and people can come in with their own cameras to get free pictures with Santa. We did it last year, and Evie seemed to do well, so we thought that this year would be really fun for the girls. Unfortunately, we waited a little too long, so when we finally got around to visiting Santa, his shift was almost done and his helpers wouldn't take the time to just do pictures of the girls with Santa. Instead, we all got pushed onto his lap for a few quick pictures. This was the best one of the lot:

When I was visiting a friend of mine, her kids showed Evie a fun toy that they'd just received from their Grandma: a singing Christmas tree that lit up and sang "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." It was actually cute and not as offensively annoying as most other singing toys I've come across. Evie was enthralled! Her new-found love of lights, combined with her appreciation for all things musical, made this the most enchanting toy she'd ever seen. My friend's little boy very kindly offered to let Evie borrow the dancing tree for a few days, as long as she took care of it and returned it before Christmas Eve. Evie eagerly accepted the offer, and we were treated to endless choruses of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" for the next week. She loved that tree so much that Todd and I looked up where it came from so we could get one of our very own. We finally found out that it came from Macy's, so we headed over that night to see if they had any left so close to Christmas and how much they were. It turns out that they did have a couple left, and they were even on 40% off sale, so we headed home with our very own dancing tree in tow. On Christmas morning, Evie headed straight for that tree, and we finally had to take it away so she would open her other presents!

She finally did open all of her presents, and she got quite a great haul, too! I was finally able to collect Evie and all of her great gifts into one place a couple of days later, before breaking down the tree for my birthday:

Then, of course, I gathered Elizabeth and all of her gifts together in one place, and did the same thing with her:

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!