december daily: day 25 Christmas Morning

(warning....this post may bore you to tears, but i want to record what was asked of Santa for my girls)

Santa was here! Santa was here!

and he was hunnnnngry. :)

he even took the time to write the girls a little note reminding them that he's always watching. (clicking it will make it bigger)

spidergirl was up before anyone and as usual, she made herself cozy with a morning cartoon and a breakfast snack without bothering the rest of us still in our sleepy slumber.

until the suspense got the best of her and she ripped apart her stocking, played with everything, put it all back in, then came and woke us up talking a mile a minute about all the fun stuff inside. LOL.

the best surprise of the morning was the slew of puppets left by Santa that were met with much excitement! awesome.


within seconds of opening them, they were already putting on a performance. i can't wait to see the imaginative play that comes from these puppets.


emma was given the top three, ashlyn the bottom three.

(melissa and doug puppets from santa can also be found at the melissa and doug website.)

she told Santa she wanted a stuffed squirrel when we visited him in the village. he went above and beyond and got her one that is animated with sounds and all. she adores it.

after purging out all the barbie stuff along with littlest pet shop stuff months ago to separate the girls into their own rooms again, ashlyn decided she was going to leave a note for Santa asking for littest pet shop stuff......again. it's so funny to watch kids fall in and out of love with something only to fall back in love with it again.

santa also brought each girl a new book for all those cooped up inside cold weather days.


ashlyn deemed them the best Christmas gift this year.


oh, the cuteness. gosh, i love her. her brown eyes get me every time.

ashlyn jumped with joy when opening this gift from daddy....it's a Camp Rock blanket. her favorite movie EVER. spidergirl in the background playing with silly putty cracks me up every time i see this picture.

we try to stick with the:
something they want
something they need
something to wear
something to read

way of thinking when purchasing their Christmas gifts. and sometimes we get a few extra things that would be considered more of a want. it's super easy to go overboard but this little poem helps us stay focused and mindful of how much is coming into the house during a very busy birthday/holiday season. emma's birthday is 3 weeks before, ashlyn's is 4 weeks after and doug's is another 2 weeks after that.

pajamas are always a big hit as the something to wear item. here, ashlyn is over the moon excited about a pair of pajamas with characters on them that look like her Littest Pet Shop toy she got from Santa.
doug always likes to go shopping and get the girls something little that's only from him.

that little something was some farmville cash which when redeemed earned her SEVEN times what it was thought to be worth. i think she ran around the house jumping up and down for over an hour when she discovered that little holiday bonus.


and this little missy got herself a zhu-zhu pet. and you can see just how excited she was about that! LOL. who ever said my kids were dramatic?


after opening gifts at our place it's always a rush to get showered, dressed, car loaded and on our way to my dad's for the rest of the day. so the floor pretty much stays littered with all their new loot until the day after christmas when i pick it up and organize it under the tree only for them to rummage through and take everything back out over and over and over and over again. LOL.
next up.....just some cute pictures and a story or two from Christmas at my dad's. then i promise i'm done with this december daily in january stuff. :)

i think i'll put off making the album until summer.........july, maybe? yeah. july. christmas in july. something to look forward to....without the pressure of a deadline. that works for me.