Christmas 2009

Despite the beginning of the week not going as I had planned and having two sick little girls, our Christmas turned out pretty great.

Gabrielle had a difficult time getting to sleep Thursday night. She finally gave up the fight around 10:00 and Santa was able to get to work. Santa finished up just before midnight. It was a good thing Santa works fast because Gabrielle woke up not too long after that with a fever. After some Tylenol, she fell back to sleep in our bed. Around 7:30 when Gabrielle started stirring I got Samantha up and the video camera ready. Gabrielle was a little lazy getting out of bed, probably due to the fever and not feeling well. When Ed asked her if she thought Santa had come her response was "not yet." I think she wanted to sleep in a little longer.

Once we finally all made it to the living room, Gabrielle had a very surprised look on her face. The tree tent was a big surprise for her. She had seen it in the toy catalog but never really asked for it. The first thing Gabrielle wanted to get into was her stocking. After she emptied her stocking I helped Samantha with hers. Then we started opening the gifts Santa left.

Gabrielle's tree tent - much bigger than I thought it was going to be!

Samantha's pile from Santa.

Gabrielle opened the biggest package first which was her Disney Princess dolls. She was one happy little girl! Then Gabrielle looked inside her tent, where Santa had left all of her gifts, and saw another wrapped box. She said with such excitement "That must be baby Starsong!" Ed and I laughed and laughed. She only asked for two things. Once she opened the princesses then of course the one gift left just had to be her baby Starsong.

Gabrielle & baby Starsong.

Samantha loved her gifts as well but I think she may have loved the wrapping paper even more.

Samantha and her walker/baby stroller.

After Santa gifts were opened we had breakfast and then opened the other gifts under the tree. Our girls truly have so much so I kept Christmas to just a few things I knew they would really enjoy. Ed was a little disappointed (and maybe me too a little) when we were done opening gifts by 9:30 that morning. He and I couldn't help but remember our Christmas mornings growing up, taking hours to open the living room packed full of presents. I couldn't help but smile when only a couple of hours later Ed suggested we go through some toys and get rid of some stuff because we had too much in our small house!

Playing in the tent together.

The rest of our Christmas day was spent in our pajamas, taking naps and being lazy. It was the perfect afternoon.

Working on the giant candy cane lollipop from her stocking from Santa.

The girls are now feeling much better. They have enjoyed playing with all of their loot. We were not able to get to church the Sunday before Christmas nor Christmas Eve due to sicknesses but we were finally able to get to church yesterday. I thought the girls looked just adorable in their red, black and white outfits. (Samantha's hair was a little fluffy and out of control yesterday though.)



This week we'll try to get back to some type of normalcy. We'll take the decorations down and try to get the house back in order. Of course Gabrielle has already started talking about what Santa can bring her next Christmas. It is going to be a long year!!