Merry Christmas

We had a very relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My mom and dad came down to our place and spent those few days with us. We took the girls to the downtown Macy’s display on Christmas Eve morning. The theme was “A Day In The Life of an Elf” – and the girls loved it. We walked through the whole display, and at the end we got to see Santa Claus. Olivia & Violet had both been very anxious to see Santa, and they loved the idea of him, but they both started crying as soon as we got close to Santa. Violet calmed down long enough to tell him she wanted magnets and to wish him a Merry Christmas, but when I left her alone on his lap she bawled. Olivia acted pretty much the same way. She was fine talking to Santa as long as daddy was by her. They each got a Christmas pin from Santa, and as soon as we left him they were saying “more Santa, more Santa.” So apparently they weren’t too traumatized!

We went to church the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and when we got home we had a nice supper. After cleaning up the dishes, we opened presents. The girls were very excited about this! They opened their presents all on their own. They still didn’t care a whole lot about what was inside; they just like to rip off the paper. Violet’s favorite gift was a Mr. Potato Head from Grandma & Grandpa Thronson, and Olivia’s favorite gift was a step stool from mommy and daddy. We left milk and cookies under the tree for Santa Claus. He filled their stockings with gifts during the night, which the girls loved opening on Christmas Day morning. They were quite shocked when they came down and the milk and cookies were gone. Olivia kept saying “cookies – all gone.” We went to my sister Terri’s for a delicious brunch. The weather wasn’t the greatest because it had been snowing since Christmas Eve so we didn’t stay long, but we had a nice visit. The girls had a blast playing with Grandma & Grandpa for the rest of the day.

On Saturday, December 26, we headed up to the Suchy farm. We enjoyed spending time with Jamie’s family and celebrating Christmas with them. The girls got to open more gifts, but this time they wanted to play with everything they opened. We kept them moving along as best as we could. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins. They were so wound up that they didn’t go to sleep until really late!

It has been so much fun to see Christmas through Olivia & Violet’s eyes. They have loved the Christmas lights on the houses, the plastic Santa in our neighbor’s yard, the Christmas songs (favorites are Rudolph and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town), and of course the presents. They also know a little bit about the true meaning of Christmas – they can tell you who was born on Christmas (“baby Jesus”), who came to see the baby (“wise men”), and what the wise men brought (“presents”). It is fun to relive Christmas through their eyes, because the smallest things are the most awesome things to them.

Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Santa and Olivia:

Santa and Violet:Granny & Violet, Grandpa & Olivia:

Violet & Olivia, anxious to open presents on Christmas Eve:

Family picture on Christmas Eve:Grandma & Grandpa Suchy with their five grandkids:
Suchy cousins:

Cousins Olivia, Chelsey, Claire & Violet:
Olivia & Violet at the Suchy farm:

Christmas Spirit

Our house is officially decorated for Christmas. Last Saturday, we took the girls with us to buy a real tree. We thought they would have some interest in picking one out, but they pretty much let Daddy do it. We debated about waiting one more year to go back to getting a real tree because we weren't sure if the girls would be able to leave it alone, but we decided to give it a try. They "helped" us decorate it after they got up from their nap. They kept taking the ornaments off the tree and throwing them to each other while saying "ball." I guess I can understand their confusion, since they are allowed to throw balls and the round ornaments do look like balls. We only ended up with one broken ornament before Jamie and I decided that we would finish the decorating later by ourselves.

Jamie and I also put a few lights on the outside of the house while the girls were napping. Olivia & Violet were very excited to see this when they woke up. Several houses in our neighborhood have had outside lights and decorations up for a few weeks, and the girls have just loved it. Every night on our way home from daycare, they say "more Christmas lights" over and over because they like to look at everyone's decorations.

They are also infatuated with Santa Claus. Our neighbors across the street have a Santa statue in their yard, and they both stare out the window saying "more San-tee Caws." They get so excited whenever they see a picture of Santa. We have been trying to explain to them that we will go to see Santa later this month, and they should think about what they want to ask Santa to bring them if they are good. Violet says that she wants Santa to bring her magnets, and Olivia says that she wants Santa to bring her presents. So far they have been giving those same answers each day we've asked.

The girls have been in very crabby moods the past few days. I don't know if we are in the "terrible twos" or what, but they are very whiny, they don't listen, and they haven't been all that nice to each other. I am hoping this is just a phase that passes quickly. Jamie claims it is all the birth control that he needs, and we should videotape their behavior for when they get older and ask why they don't have another brother or sister!!

We hope you are enjoying the holiday season and are getting into the Christmas spirit!

Violet & Olivia decorating our Christmas tree:

Mommy & Olivia decorating the tree: Olivia & Daddy taking a break from decorating:

Violet decorating the tree with a poinsettia:
Violet:

Uno, Dos, Tres...

Here is a video I filmed earlier tonight of Olivia in the bathtub. I had to grab the camera because all of a sudden she started counting in Spanish, and I had no idea she knew how to do so. I also got her to sing her ABC's (kind of). Enjoy!