It Was a Merry, Merry Christmas!

Please forgive my absence on the blog; I'm still fighting this darn bronchitis. I can't believe how long it has lasted. Although I'm no longer hacking up my lungs at night, and I can actually breath now, I'm still exhausted, coughing a little, and up a few times every night. But I'm out and about, trying to get back to my normal routine.

Our Christmas was wonderful this year. Both girls are at an age where everything was just so exciting. Miss Priss is still amazed that Santa was somehow able to be at the mall when we went, at our ward Christmas party, at a friend's Christmas party, at her school for breakfast, at the Magical Forrest lights display, AND was still able to make it to our house on the night of Christmas Eve! That jolly old elf really IS magic!

We did our December Christmas events chain again this year, which would have been a lot more fun if I hadn't been sick. We make a regular red and green Christmas chain to count down the days until Christmas, but we also write something to do on each day, so that when the girls tear a link off, there's some Christmas activity that we all get to do that day. Some of the things on our list this year were to see the live nativity put on by the church here, see the lights at the Bellagio gardens, watch Christmas movies, make gingerbread houses, make treats and pass out goodie plates to neighbors and friends, read the story of Christ's birth, and so on. We ended up skipping a few things we planned this year since I wasn't feeling up to being out much, but we just substituted for things we could do at home. It's always a lot of fun.

I'm not sure if Devil Child was really as excited as she seemed Christmas morning, or if she was just copying her older sister. She does that a lot. But it was hilarious watching them tear open gifts, gasp and shout, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! LOOK WHAT I GOT, MOM!!!" Miss Priss was so impressed that Santa actually gave her the things on her list. Except he forgot a bell from his sleigh. After watching The Polar Express a couple times, she added the bell to her list, and Santa must have forgotten. Oops. I have a feeling he'll remember next year if she asks for it again.

The Man came up with a great idea this year for opening gifts. The kids are always the ones who want to dash under the tree, grab their gift (or someone else's) and open it up; but since ours are too young to read who the gifts are for, we've always done the "passing out" of presents. This year The Man made up gift tags that had our pictures on them instead, so the girls were able to easily identify which gift belonged to whom. He's now working on a computer program so that other people can use the same idea. You'll just download the picture you want, and then you can print a sheet out to stick on the presents. It was a lot of fun to have both the girls get a gift and say, "This one's for me, Mom!" or "Daddy, here's one for you!"

Santa brought Miss Priss a princess scooter, which she's already a pro at. She goes zipping up and down our street. Our street is perfect for playing outside on. We're on a cul-de-sac, so the only cars we worry about are the people who actually live on the circle. And we're on a slight incline, so it makes for a nice ride down the street. Sometimes they gain a little too much speed on the way down, though, and ride right up into the driveway of the houses at the end of the street.

And Devil Child got her very own little potty from Santa this year. We tried to help her get excited about using it, but for the first day or two all we heard was, "I don't like it potty. I don't like it, Mom." Oh, well. So much for my hopes of only having one child in diapers at a time.

Over the last couple of days she's learned to like the potty a bit more. She even chooses to wear her big girl panties instead of her diapers. She sits on the potty a few times every day and grunts, but we have yet to see a single drop actually hit the bowl. This is not going to be fun.















Thanks to everyone who helped make Christmas so great for our girls this year. Grandmas and Grandpas sent them wonderful gifts that they just love. The Dora magic castle dollhouse was a hit. Thanks Grandma D!


And the puzzles for Miss Priss were a great idea. It's finally an alphabet game that challenges her a little. She loves them. And Devil Child loves her little baby doll, too. Her favorite thing is to change her clothes over and over and over. Except she can't do it by herself yet, so I guess her favorite thing is to have mommy change her baby's clothes over and over and over. But I don't mind ... yet. Thanks Grandma Darlin'!














Another gift they can't get enough of are the pink sparkly shoes from their cousin. They just love how they click on the kitchen floor. So they are constantly putting them on and running through the house saying, "Listen to how they sound, Mom!"

The Man and I decided to do very small gifts for each other this year, but it seemed like we ended up having a huge Christmas anyway. We finally got a new car for him; a 2004 Silver Honda Accord. It's beautiful and new and not an embarrassment. ILOVE IT!!! He's pretty thrilled to be driving a new car with no dings or dents, it sounds wonderful (actually, it's the fact that there's NO sound when we drive it that's so great), and the air conditioning works! Not that we need it now, but come summertime out here it will seem like nothing short of a miracle for him. He's gone too many summers with no air in his car.

And I of course have to share my wonderful gift that he made for me. He wrote out a Christmas madlib and sat down with me Christmas morning for me to fill in all the blanks (adjectives, verbs, names, feelings, body parts that hurt when I'm pregnant). You get the idea. After filling it out, he handed me the story to read. It was a cute little story about a Christmas elf. But the best part was that when I was finished with the story, there were 10 tabs on the side for me to pull slips of paper out of the story. Most of the words I had filled in had now turned into a sort of "coupon book" for things he would do for me. For example, when he asked me to name a part of my body that aches when I'm pregnant, I answered feet. When I pulled that slip of paper out, the word "feet" came out of the story and was now a slip of paper that said, "I will massage your aching feet." When he asked me to name a really nice restaurant, I answered The Top of the World. When I pulled that slip of paper out, it said he would take me out on a date to The Top of the World. For those of you who have never been there, it's got to be the most amazing restaurant I've ever been to. The food is absolutely amazing, but that's just the beginning. The restaurant is located on the top of the Stratosphere Hotel, and the whole place spins (very slowly) while you are up there eating, so in the space of one hour, you've gotten a view of the entire city, all the way around. It really is a sight to see. I highly recommend saving up some money to all of you who plan on coming to visit so that you can experience it yourself.

Anyway, back to my gift. By the time I was done pulling out slips of paper, I was so thrilled. Merry Christmas to me! The Man will now be cleaning toilets and showers, making dinners when I'm not in the mood, getting the girls ready for bed for me, running out for my favorite midnight snack, rubbing my feet, cleaning out my car, setting up a movie night just for us, AND taking me to The Top of the World on a date! I knew he would come up with something amazing for me. I'm so lucky to have such a creative and romantic man in my life. And all I can say is, boy, did he marry down!

I hope each of you had the best Christmas yet this year with your families. We want you to know that we love you all and miss you tons and tons. Thanks for all the phone calls and Christmas cards (and sorry I was too lazy to actually send ours out!). And now, it's back to that same old grind. The Man is back at work, Miss Priss starts school next Wednesday, and Devil Child and I will be ... um ... like I said before, it's not like we're sitting around watching TV and eating bon bons!!!