christmas-palooza!

​Who is ready for a giant Christmas-palooza? Because dudes. So many photos. So ready set go. 

We had Christmas Eve dinner at Papa's house. And Santa came! What makes this special is it's the very same Santa that came to Jess' Christmas Eve dinners when he was a child. A tangent - Once Santa brought an elf with him (his daughter). She called herself Dweezle. And Grammy never tires of telling us the story of how young Jess was smitten with Dweezle. It's just the cutest story, and I never tire of seeing Jess get all blushy. The cutest.

Also, this is the first time in the history of ever that the girls willingly sat on Santa's lap. Lou needed a bit of persuasion, but they did it! Also, please note that Santa is holding the hair out of her face - oh he's the cutest.

After Santa left, we had a grand nativity. Grammy brought her old fur coats for people to be animals, and everyone grabbed props and threw it together. It was lovely (and also hilarious). Here are my shepherds, and little Mary. Mary's holding a baby Jesus that has lived at Grammy's house for decades.

And then on to our little family's tradition: Legos! Every Christmas Eve, we open a box of Legos and assemble it together. In years past, it's mostly been Jess putting it together with a little help from Annabelle. This year, Annabelle legitimately built that little car she's holding by herself (they also built a larger set from The Lego Movie), and Lou's getting really good at spotting pieces. 

Pajamas haven't been a tradition in prior years, but when a certain five year old started feeling so sad about the fact that she could no longer wear footie pajamas, someone had to remedy the situation (Carter's sells them up to size 7). And now I'm pretty sure pajamas + Legos will be the new Christmas Eve tradition combo. 

As most of you know, we've had a fairly dry winter. I know many people who had been praying and hoping for a white Christmas. And welp. We got it. Here's the view out our front window Christmas morning.

The girls woke up and patiently waited for Jess to muster the courage to open his eyelids. I make the girls "line up" and close their eyes, just like I did as a child. However, my kids are NOT required to get dressed and eat breakfast and shine the floors MOM AND DAD. (We really did have to do that before we were allowed to see Christmas! Torture!)

I love this picture because usually it's Lou who's the big ol' cheater and Belle who is unfailingly honest. But look at that little sneaky peek.

That there horse in her hand? Oh she wanted it so bad. Sooooo bad. 

Now, a little explanation. We went and saw Big Hero 6 a few months ago. We absolutely loved it. And the girls left the movie insisting that they NEEDED a Baymax (the big lovable robot). They needed him so bad. Any time anyone asked Lou what she wanted for Christmas, it was "A Baymax who's soft and a tiny horse." And then the person (Santa included) would go, "Wha??" Luckily, this Santa got online and found him in China on Ebay. Go China. Here the girls are opening the long awaited Baymax!

Lou's face. Bahahhahahhahaa.

For the love. Christmas is fun.

The girls received so many great gifts this year from family members. And these girls were so much fun to watch. They get so excited for everything. I just love it.

Aunt Marissa found a friggin' Maria dress. You know - MARIA -  from the Sound of Music, still easily the most beloved show in our house. Belle was at first confused and thought it was an Anna dress, but then realized it was Maria and started stripping immediately to become Maria. No lie. And then little Lou made the most perfect little Tink. 

I didn't blog about this last year because I'M A BAD DAUGHTER, but my mom made all of us - grand daughters and daughters - a homemade, crocheted Lalaloopsy. (The very last photo on this post, top left - that's Belle's.) They are so loved by my girls (and me). This year, Grandma made them mini Lalaloopsy dolls. And well...

My dad sent Cabbage Patch dolls. In case anyone was wondering, yes, indeed they do still smell amazing. Like my childhood all sealed up in a box. 

And another back story. Lou's friend Layla has this little Leapfrog kid laptop majig. Whenever she plays with Layla, she hoards that little electronic device like nobody's business. So imagine her excitement when Aunt Kristen SENT HER ONE for Christmas. When she opened it, she yelled, "I KNEW I WOULD GET THIS. I! KNEW! IT!" (Aunt Kristen basically helped us dodge a big ol' bullet - thank you!) She now totes that thing around all day, pausing to do a little business here and there. (P.S. It's a great toy for learning letters and animals and such. Highly recommend. Love.)

Okay, so then we paused and ran up to Grammy's house. We'd left some presents up there to open - both for her and for us. 

The girls picked out this bright pink fleece coat (soooo soft) for Grammy. Because pink is her favorite color, and Grammy's always cold. This is Grammy opening it. Do you just love her? She's so great, and having a little mini Christmas at her house was just the best.

We then went up to Papa's house for some more present opening. And I have searched over ten memory cards and our phones for photos, all to no avail, although I know I took photos. A back story will have to suffice. A few months ago, I pulled down my American Girl doll (which was given to me when I was 25 by my mother in law, and yes I was as excited as if I were five years old) to show the girls. They were starry eyed and Annabelle wished with all her heart that she could have one. She started including her wish in her prayers. Oh man. I was already done Christmas shopping and didn't have plans to add an American Girl doll to the mix. But when Grandma and Grandpa Cheney got wind of her prayers, they made her wish come true. I had done a pretty good job of convincing her that she wouldn't get one and what about Baymax? So when she unwrapped a big box to find Caroline, the very one she wanted? Oh the shrieks of joy. (Lou got Rebecca, pronounced Ree-becca by Belle.) 

And so when Christmas was done and the babies were tucked safely in their beds, visions of sugar plums and probably Baymax dancing in their heads, I made my nightly rounds as I do, and I found this. Basically the perfect picture to end a perfect Christmas day.

​