peering down...
to see what's under the big tree...
Harriet got new earrings under the little tree in her bedroom!
Grace got some new guitar picks under her tree and is anxious to see if they go with something downstairs!
First stop - stockings.
The littlest goes first. Harriet chose Aunt Jessie's present to open first!
a giant Hello Kitty pillow and blanket! this was just the beginning of the Hello Kitty avalanche
Grace next, she went straight for the big one.
looks like the guitar picks had a purpose
more Hello Kitty...
and more and more and more!!! This is one Happy girl.
Harriet waited it out for a bit before opening her big present... even billowing yards of fabric couldn't quite cover it.
yes! the "Barbie Dream House" How did Santa get THAT in his sleigh? (check out Harriet seeing if it is just as tall as she is.) More importantly, WHICH elf put it together leaving out 2 important screws? hmm... good thing they left a strange bag of hardware behind so we could finish the job.
one more big one for Grace - gotta have something to plug that guitar into
Merry Christmas Daddy!
Now, on the subject of asking for a real dragon egg for Christmas... intending to raise a baby dragon as a pet... well, Santa left a sensible note reading something like "sorry Grace, it was just too dangerous to bring a real dragon and all." He did leave her a really cool pewter dragon snow globe with a baby dragon inside the globe. I still maintain that pets shouldn't be given as gifts anyway. Thanks for backing me up Santa! Thankfully, Grace wasn't too bummed about the absence of a dragon under the tree and happily set her snow globe in her room to keep her company.
our raging Taylor Swift fan waited a long time to open her new album and start learning her new songs!
the rest of Grace's Christmas consisted of Skylanders Characters to go with her game she had just saved her allowance to buy.
So, you can guess what she did for the rest of the day.
Who put that hat on Hello Kitty? Grace is so into her game, she doesn't even notice that the pink cat is wearing her new favorite hat.
oh, and she did spend a good amount of time PRACTICING. That's one way to get a kid to practice on a holiday.
Our family gift this year was a telescope. We can't wait for a warm cloudless night to go try it out. So far, the warmer nights have all been cloudy and the clear ones are TOO COLD.
David does like to be neat about the wrapping and get it all cleaned up quick, but I kind of love the Christmas mess.
I have to tell one story about some gifts I got. Grace decided weeks before Christmas that she wanted to buy something really nice for me. She asked her dad to take her to Old Town ABQ. She knew exactly what she wanted and exactly where she would shop (the street jewelry vendors.) David said it took her about 10 seconds to choose it. She spent a significant amount of her money on it. She was SOOOO excited to give it to me. It was kind of a huge deal. She doesn't often plan gifts for other people and rarely likes to part with her own money for them. Anyway, Harriet saw what she had done and followed suit the next weekend with David on her own shopping date with Daddy.
Both girls ended up giving me these really pretty hematite necklace and bracelet sets. They went together really well, so I wore both sets the next day when we were hanging out with David's family. We went to a movie that night and when we got back to Grandma's house, Harriet was throwing a fit and hit my arm. I looked down and saw that one of my bracelets was gone. Of course, Grace's gift. I couldn't find it anywhere in the house and was convinced I must have lost it at the movie theater. To David's chagrin, I grabbed his keys and headed back to the theater near 11pm to look. I went up to the ticket taker and said that I had lost a bracelet and could I look for it? It looks like "this" as I pointed to the spot on my neck where the necklace should have been (and just was!) But, the necklace was gone too. How in the world?!
I have never been in such a panic to find something. I was so crushed to have lost Grace's generous and sweet gift. She was home at Grandma's crying her eyes out too.
The movie theater staff were very nice and took me into the theater (movie playing) with a flashlight to look. The guy with the flashlight actually actually found it! I couldn't believe we even found the seat I had been sitting in, let alone the bracelet. One miracle down. One to go.
I rushed out to the lobby and parking lot, knowing that I had lost the necklace on the way in. Sure enough, after searching by the light of my iphone, I did find it in the dark, packed, parking lot. Totally incredible. I made a lot of deals with God that night. Thankfully, He took me up on them.
If they weren't already, those are for sure my very favorite Christmas gifts. But, I'm too scared to wear them now! They are safe in my jewelry box. I need to find a way to put new clasps on them since apparently the ones used by the street vendor jewelry maker do not stay put. Still, I am so grateful for my girls and all the effort and sacrifice they gave to give me really nice gifts for Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all!
1 comment:
That's quite the Hello Kitty haul! Great photos. Grace's guitar looks awesome. And as for that doll house...holy cow!
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