We made a visit to Santa following a Swim team holiday tea party wearing our Christmas socks. Marissa was all good with Santa and knows he says "Ho ho ho", but did not want to sit with the stranger in the red suit.
Stacy and I made cookies (too many).
Karen and Girl Scout co-leader Natalie took the girls caroling. We had a dozen girls attend and sing. We were better prepared this year and it helped that most of them could read the lyrics this year.
This year, the girls received personalized letters from Santa. Grammy Susan found out about an non-profit organization supporting Children's Hospital that *helps Santa send letters out.* She sent them an info sheet and a small donation, and a few weeks later each grandchild received a typed letter personalized with lots of amazing details enclosed in a silver envelope addressed to her. Addisyn and Piper's both say they have a "gold star" next to their names on the nice list! Santa recommended a book to Addisyn at 2nd grade reading level and then gave her the first book in the series to her under the tree Christmas. Addisyn's letter was one and a half pages long! Piper's just over a page, and Marissa's was one page.
On Christmas Eve, Addisyn and Piper sang at church with the children's choirs, and Karen played flute part on one song.
We went to Stacy's house for dinner and gift opening, then we came home and put out cookies for Santa. The kids were thoughtful to put them *next to* the fireplace, not in front of it, so he wouldn't knock them over coming in the house. And again, they were SO excited to see the crumbs Christmas morning and figure out which cookies Santa liked or didn't like based on how much was left on the plate. Christmas Day we opened gifts from each other at home, then went up to Mike's house for lunch and more gift-giving.
Uncle Matt's mom and daughter were here and the girls love the silly attention of Grandma/Miss Irene.
Everyone played with the doll with the potty...or just the potty...the potty toy got a lot of play.
Marissa shared her new toys with Uncle Matt who seemed to really enjoy the kids.
Our Christmas gift this year was getting to see Marcy and Matt. They spent one week in San Diego, probably a happy relief from Virginia at 7 degrees.
The desert was cold. (Well, not 7-degree cold, but we San Diego natives we wearing pants, layers, and beanies.)
It was a pretty big deal to have the whole family together. We are lucky Marcy and Matt were able to visit for a week. Here are mom and dad with their three girls and hubbies.
We are all so in LOVE!
Marissa couldn't wait to go for a "buggy wad" (buggy ride).
After tooling around with her in the front seat, we strapped in a carseat and attempted to take her on a bigger ride. She liked it at first, but the cold morning air blowing on her face wasn't comfortable and she made it clear we should turn around.
She still likes the buggy though--and her goggles--so we'll try again next trip!
Another awesome part of going to the desert was seeing our good friends who live in Arizona. Addisyn and Piper had a good time playing with Bryce at the top of a hill in the soft sand.
I think we counted it was ~100 steps down and ~200 steps up the slippery sand.
This trip 2014:
The original picture from 1982 (32 years ago):
So, the girls got to play with my camera and I thought it would be a nice close to this blog post to reflect on what they focus on. Is a child's view of Christmas different from ours as adults? The pictures are of *things*, but I see that THEY see the sparkle and love and grandious-ness in the details. These are the highlights....after I deleted the strange and blurry ones...
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