I love having Christmas Eve and Christmas fall on Sunday. I love being dressed up for holidays, it makes for cute pictures. We have so much to thank my in-laws for; wonderful food, truly amazing and thoughtful Christmas gifts, babysitting, and a very comfortable and relaxing place to be, surrounded by lovely decorations. I am afraid it became a very Miriam centered Christmas, since Miriam was the only child there. She doesn't know how lucky she is to have Grandma and Grandpa all to herself for so long. I don't think I ever spent that much time with my grandparents. It was also fun to see Regan, Vanessa, Amanda, Cameron, and Danielle that evening to
liven things up a bit.
Here is Miriam with her VERY PATIENT grandparents helping her make cookies for Santa (thanks to aunt Cristin for the wonderful recipe, I don't like sugar cookies as a rule, but these were good). She fell asleep before she could leave them out, but Santa helped himself and left a note.
This was one of my favorite Christmas gifts. My MIL gave Miriam these Wizard of Oz decorations they bought while living in New Hampshire. They are meaningful to Darin, because he remembers the little store they came from, and Miriam was memorized by them. I remember them from one of our first Christmases as a couple, I like them back then before the Oz obsession occurred. Darin and I both agree our all time favorite gifts came from our parents. Darin's parents made something for us, but I can't write about it until I am sure everyone in the family has received them, so I will edit this post later. My parents gave us pictures of both sets of my grandparents as young adults. I can't wait to find perfect frames and display them in our home. Miriam's favorite gift would have to be her ballet shoes from aunt Julia, which have to be pried off her feet when we leave the house.I also got to talk to my brother in Brazil which made Christmas special. I guess technically, missionaries are only suppose to get one phone call, but since I was his 2nd mother I should get phone privileges too.
This is Miriam in her outfit of choice since Christmas, hugging the Angelina Ballerina stuff she received from Santa. It's actually vintage hand-me-downs from my sister Sarah. Her little girl was given the complete set for Christmas when she was Miriam's age and hardly touched them. So yes, Miriam received used toys for Christmas, but you should she these toys! They are amazing. She now has the complete cottage set (living room, bedroom, kitchen) we plan on giving her baby Polly and the carriage when the new baby comes, and the stage with all it's trappings for her birthday. Everyone was very generous with Miriam, she sleeps with the pillow Danielle made, does her "Bella Dancerella" video everyday (would do it more than once but both Darin and I put our feet down), loved making her own tutu and crowns, she would wear her new dresses if I let her, and is dying to do "projects" with her new art supplies.
It was a great Christmas and we are looking forward to New Years with my family! More to come from that when I do the Post New Year's post.
