I think the one that touched me the most was Libby opening her first wrapped gift on Christmas morning (Santa displays the gifts he leaves). She made short order of ripping off the wrapping paper. She viewed the navy blue, thin cardboard box inside it, and squealed with delight, "A new BOX!" (She was much less enthused about the adorable leotard inside it.) That kind of reaction, just about a gift you didn't know was coming, sure put the day in perspective!
Anyway, we tortured her just like my dad used to torture me on Christmas morning. I came down first to turn the lights on the tree on, get her milk ready and get the camera set up for maximum photo ops. Finally, she got to come down and see if Santa came to visit!
Then came the skates - and helmet.
And her first lap. This perfectly demonstrates our major parenting fail. Enjoy!
Some shots of her initial hoard.
She also loved her stocking - and helped everyone with theirs, too! Santa still visits Michael's stocking and mine too - here, AND at our parents' houses. She was only to eager to squeal on our behalf as she pulled out the goodies from our stockings.
And Commissioner was eager to get to the treats from her own stocking, as well!
The aforementioned "box" being opened!
Libby also loves her new snow globe music box with a moving train and Coca-Cola Santa! It was her Mama's growing up and I was delighted to see how much she loves it.
She opened this Clifford book, too! And this photo was taken just moments before Daddy started to panic that the tickets to the Clifford LIVE show we're taking her to in February were, for some reason, not inside... We found them after just a few heart-racing moments.
And Libby's other favorite gift to this point, was her new paint book! The water stays inside the brush until you use it and you can paint the picture over and over again because the image fades as it dries off. Too cool!
In her reindeer hat!
Then we chowed down on some breakfast as quick as we could before her grandparents arrived for MORE Christmas fun!
We got to business pretty quickly before Libby got too worn out to have fun. She actually took breaks from the room because she told me, "I'm tired," and went to the kitchen to quietly paint before returning to open more gifts.
Her favorite gifts to open seemed to be the ones she made herself. She opened them for us and she would squeal and run to hang the ornaments on the tree (even if they weren't hers) before the actual recipient had a chance to see what they looked like. Just classic.
Then it was nap time, so the parents put together their last gift for her: a trampoline. Apparently it was quite the ordeal to put together, but I hear much laughter coming from the garage (it was raining outside) between tense moments. I was in the kitchen working on dinner, okay?
Papa worked so hard supervising the work. (Okay, from what I gather, Gigi did most of it with help from the dads and mom on the directions.)
And finally it was dinner time: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, steamed green beans and rolls with cinnamon honey butter!
And for dessert? Cushaw Pie!
Libby finally got a bath after dinner given by Diddy and Papa and after she hit the sack, we regrouped, got in our pjs and watched "White Christmas" which I'd been waiting ALL SEASON to watch! I think we all enjoyed it more than ever before -- especially me, since dad rubbed my feet with my new peppermint lotion while we watched!
What a Christmas! And it continued the next day! (I'll get to that at some point... but at the moment, we're just trying to "redecorate for January"... and Libby's birthday!)
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