Christmas

Christmas was really fun this year. It's Kate's third, but the first one when she was old enough to hear about Santa and look forward to presents and stockings and cookie making. On Christmas Eve, we made cookies for Santa and she helped measure, mix and then decorate them. We left a few out along with a glass of egg nog for Santa. She was very excited that he would be eating her cookies.

I got to play Santa for the first time, filling the stockings and putting everything under the tree after she went to bed, and I loved it. I think we did a good job in choosing presents for Kate so that she got some good toys, but they are small and will last a long time. I also helped things by putting away a bunch of toys that she seldom played with to make some space for incoming presents. I felt the urge to buy her more things, so hopefully next year I will remember that just a couple of good toys is all she needs, not piles and piles of them.

On Christmas morning, in the usual tradition, stockings were opened first while everyone was still in their pajamas (or less, in one case).


And after stockings, there was breakfast, clothes and caffeinated drinks for the big people. Kate would play with a new present as soon as she opened it, so after awhile of pulling her away from something to open the next, we decided to just wait to open some more later in the day.

Post presents, we headed down to the lake for a walk and to play in the park. It was a sunny, although cool day and it was perfect to be outside for awhile. Westley had needed a bath earlier in the day, and he did his best to undo the work Graeme did to get him clean.







Later in the day, Kate settled into her chair for a show while we cooked a delicious dinner of prime rib, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire Puddings (only my second time making them and they turned out PERFECTLY. I wish I'd taken a picture. They were awesome), kale and brussel sprouts. A delcious Christmas dinner and a really great day.