Christmas 2015 Part One - Christmas Eve Day
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| Pretending to be Rudolph, weeks before Christmas |
The horrid parents we are, Nick and I didn't really start any family holiday traditions until last year. As I mentioned in a previous post, however, Lilly was exceptionally into Christmas this year. So much so that we nearly destroyed the day for her.
Since we head to my cousin's house on Christmas Eve, Santa came on the night of the 23rd. Thinking that she needed a good night sleep, we didn't mention that Santa was coming early. We expected Lilly to be so excited Christmas Eve morning when she came downstairs and discovered Santa came early. Instead she was distraught that Santa came early. Very, very distraught. In her head, Santa comes the night of Christmas Eve. And when you are little, rules mean everything. And when those rules are unexpectedly broken - things are not good. Luckily we were able to quickly keep tears from happening by distracting her with presents from Santa.
Santa brought Lilly her own digital camera (a steal on Amazon) and some stocking stuffers. She was very, very excited with the camera and nearly as excited for the three-pack of toothbrushes. Greta had no clue what was going on but was thrilled there was so much paper around for her to try and get. My favorite moment (besides her getting the camera, which was her super big wish (she wanted one like Dashi from the Octonauts) was when she opened up a book and we had to stop opening presents to read the book. I suggested we keep opening presents, and then read it, but no, we needed to read it then and there.
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| Playing before opening presents. She had no clue what was about to happen |
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| The kid-proof (hopefully!) digital camera |
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| stopping to read her book from Greta |
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We plopped her in the exersaucer eventually since she was
really interested in the bits of paper |
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| Showing Greta her toy |
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| Reading the new books |
After we opened presents, we finished packing, getting set, loaded in the car and headed to the Aquarium in Duluth, our other Christmas tradition started last year. The drive to the Twin Cities is a little over three hours, Duluth is slightly less than 90 minutes. It is the perfect place to stop, stretch the legs, and check out some fish before driving into the craziness that is the Twin Cities. We stopped in Iron River to feed Greta and to buy the world's best doughnuts at the world's lowest prices. Of course, Greta fell asleep just minutes before we reached Duluth. We decided to do what one should never do, wake a sleeping baby, and bring her in. It, at first, didn't seem like a terrible idea. She kept on sucking on her pacifier and was interested in everything. Happy, in fact. Lilly loved it, as she does every time.
We spent longer than anticipated at the Aquarium, so skipped getting an official lunch somewhere. Shortly after we left Duluth, Greta was screaming (remember me saying it at first didn't seem like a bad idea to wake her up?), so Nick pulled off so I could try and feed Greta and we could maybe find somewhere to eat. Lilly fell asleep just about a minute before we pulled off and woke up on the offramp, looking at me and saying, "That was a long blink." No kiddo, that was falling asleep. Anyway, we found somewhere to eat but it was closed, I tried to feed Greta and that sort of worked. Then back on the Interstate to get to my cousin's house. A bit more crying but eventually, both, that's right, both girls, fell asleep. I actually had time to read my own book in the car. For more than ten minutes. Merry Christmas, Mom.
Now it is time for bed. Stories from my cousin's house and our time in Eau Claire to come later.
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