Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve marked our celebration with Scot's small family - Julie, Todd and Aunt Marilyn came over in the afternoon. We stuffed ourselves with all of our favorite appetizers, then had some dinner, and then ripped into the presents. The girls of course had the biggest piles by far. Ava's favorite presents were her American Girl doll "Jenna" (well, the Target version anyway) with her own wardrobe/dresser courtesy of Marilyn - she also is really enjoying the Leapster Explorer we got her. We are enjoying it very much too as it keeps her very occupied! She seems to take after her dad in that area ;-) Over the course of the holidays she got 5 games for it, so she is well stocked. Reese very enthusiastically opened her gifts and always gave a very appreciate laugh and scream when she finished opening each one. Her favorite gift that night seemed to be the baby doll that Julie and Todd gave her. Despite having 4 or 5 other dolls in house, this became a coveted item for Ava as well and there has been much fighting over it. She also really enjoys her big bag of mega blocks and an animal puzzle. After the gang left, we put out the cookies and milk for Santa, along with her list so he could double-check once he got down the chimney. It was really a nice day and evening - it was great that we could spend time with each other, but we definitely missed Di, Gardy and Margie.







Thanks to Sam who helped play Santa


When we tucked Ava in that night, we told her that she had to stay in her room until 6 am to make sure Santa had enough time to get the presents ready. We knew she would be up and out at 6:01 sharp, so we told her she could also open her presents if we were still sleeping. Scot and I finally rolled downstairs around 7:30 and she excitedly showed us that Santa came and that he put tootsie rolls in her stocking! Her stocking also had some Reese's Pieces and socks in it. She also got a Belle doll for the bathtub and a crown for herself. Reese finally woke up at about 9 (!) and Ava very eagerly told her that Santa had come! She was beyond excited! She also got some tootsie rolls and socks in her stocking, along with M & Ms - her favorite treat of all! Santa brought her another doll that you can snap clothes onto and a new winter hat/mittens. We had a very leisurely day watching the girls play with all of their new toys. Later that morning we also brought out a big dollhouse for both of them - one that has rooms tall enough to fit Barbie dolls - it was very well received! The biggest disappointment for Ava, though, was not getting a dolphin pillow pet...she was really bummed Santa didn't bring her one, it was on her list after all!

On Sunday we did much of the same - lazed around the house and then celebrated Scot's 37th birthday in the evening. We invited some friends over, ordered some pizzas and I made a German Chocolate cake for dessert.

On Wednesday night, we headed out to Wausau to celebrate Christmas #2 with my family. We had planned on leaving Friday, but the weather report looked dicey Thurs/Fri so we decided to move our itinerary up a little bit. I had worked all week and had also planned on working Thursday from my parents' house, but couldn't connect for some reason, so I gave up - and instead had a really nice lunch with my sister and an afternoon of shopping. Much better! Everyone came over on Friday (NYE day) for our family celebration. More food, more presents, more food, lots of Wii. And Ava FINALLY got a pillow pet after hoping for one all month! My mom had gotten her a unicorn one over Thanksgiving, which she immediately fell in love with (and coincidentally had JUST changed her mind to wanting a unicorn instead of a dolphin a few days prior). Aunt JoAnn got Reese a bumblebee one which she was also ecstatic about. She yelled, "A piwow pet, Mommy! A piwow pet! Bumbobee!" Those two were the definite favorites on the day.

Sheer Joy

And while we all got some generous gifts from Mom and Dad, our favorite present of course was this one...

Thanks, Mom. :-)