Nick has imposed a 10:30 bedtime, so I won't be able to get all the Christmases covered, but I will try to get the first three done, which means fewer pic monkey collages, so my apologies.
First, on Thursday the 22nd, Greta and Lilly had their Tree Top Christmas party. They draw names at the start of December and each child buys a gift for another child. Then they take turns opening presents and have a fun party (I am assuming, I have not been there). Lilly has a good friend, the day care owner's son, and he has been begging to have her play with him in his mom's office. So, before the holiday party, the two got to play. Theresa, the owner, sent me this adorable photo of the two of them having their pre-party gathering.
He apparently brought over a chair for her and got out the pink play dough. So sweet! They apparently play together all the time and never have any conflicts, and play imaginatively together. In fact, Lilly was invited over for a couple hour play date over the break, Theresa just couldn't play as imaginatively as Lilly!
Theresa always gives each kid a Christmas present and being a child expert, always gives great gifts. Both Greta and Lilly had to start playing with their paints right away.
We changed our minds about our holiday plans, and rather than go to Duluth and the aquarium on the 24th, we headed down to Eau Claire on the 23rd. So I "wrote a letter to Santa" on the morning of the 22nd and let him know we'd be leaving earlier than planned, so if he could come that night, it would be great. The morning of the 23rd Lilly woke up at 6:00 having to go to the bathroom. Before she got out of bed, she asked me if Santa had come. I told her I didn't know, I was just getting out of bed myself. I realized she wasn't getting out of bed because she wanted to be sure Santa would still come if he hadn't. So, after assuring her that he had come, she went to the bathroom - and here's the really crazy thing - she went back to sleep for another hour!!
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Magnatiles. Coolest present ever. It was so much
fun to watch her play with these - she probably built 30
different structures over the course of the day |
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| "Hello" |
Then we opened presents and had breakfast, then finished packing after I went out for some last minute presents. We wanted to be on the road around 10:30 and left around 12:55. First we stopped at Subway in Ashland for some lunch to go and we finally found a sandwich Lilly would eat (veggie delight). Then a quiet, peaceful drive down to Eau Claire - minus the fact that the roads were terrible. The snow itself wasn't the problem, but they weren't salting the roads, so they were slippery and people were driving too fast and some too slow. A typical 2 hour and 45 minute drive turned into almost 4 hours. But the girls were happy and content the entire time - including Greta. And of course, neither of them slept.
We went to my parents' house and Matt and Mandy were waiting for us. Pizza for dinner and then present opening. Great gifts and we had a great time.
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Greta lost interest in present opening, eventually
opening the rest of her presents but not with the rest of us |
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| Real dinosaur fossils!!! |
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| Playing with magna tiles again. |
A fairly good night of sleep (minus my cold keeping me awake) - in fact probably the best night of sleep on the trip - and the morning of the 24th came around. Nick went out for a ski and we hung out at home, giving the girls baths, applying removable tattoos, and getting ready to go to my cousin Phil's house in a suburb of the Twin Cities. Again, we had a remarkable drive. The girls were content and entertained themselves, except for when my dad read Lilly three Barenstein Bear books from the front seat.
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| Reading to her doll |
Every year my extended family gets together for tacos, shabuck, and present opening on the 24th. We've done this for as long as I can remember, including my own childhood (the tacos are a more recent change to the plans). It is a great time and my cousin's family are great hosts. Taylor let Greta sleep in her room, she read to Lilly and played Littlest Pet Shop with her. We're a game playing family, so darts, Blockus, double solitaire were all played. Nick won the annual shabuck tournament, bringing the trophy back to our house. Once again Greta seemed to lose interest in present opening, but it was also coming up on her bedtime.
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| Greta had a hard time waking up from her nap |
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Shabuck. Slide the wooden discs to the slots at the end. Lilly
tripled her score from last year. Greta, well, she played. |
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| And the traditional passing of the trophy |
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Present opening. We have this ugly hat that gets passed around with Secret Santa.
Maggie won it this year, and has to wear it to work and get her picture taken there |
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Lilly's Christmas was made - a Wonder Woman costume and a stuffed unicorn
(and a book) |
We drove back to Eau Claire that night, bringing my grandma along with us. Lilly stayed awake until about five minutes from Nick's parents' house, Greta fell asleep around 9:25, but we easily transferred her from the carseat to bed. The big trick was getting Lilly in bed before her cousins showed up. We were successful, but barely. Just like me, finishing this up as I brush my teeth, at 10:35.
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