Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely, if slightly excessive Christmas today yesterday. I'm afraid we may have gone overboard on the gifts after all, but if that's the worst of it, I suppose we did pretty well.

Joe's parents had agreed to come over and have breakfast with us so they could be here to watch the girls open their presents. We thought they were coming over at 9, and planned to just let the girls wake us up and figured we'd be up in plenty of time. Well, the girls slept in a bit because they'd been up late the night before. And Joe's parents thought we'd agreed on 8. So I'm laying there in bed half awake and I thought I heard a thump downstairs, which got me more awake, but I laid there for a few more minutes anyway. And when I dragged myself down to start the casserole baking, there they were waiting for us - they have a house key. But it all worked out, and they were gracious about it.

While we waited for the food to cook, the girls opened up their stocking gifts. They were both thrilled with their dolls.



And there were many other things in there that were also deemed acceptable. I took pictures of most of that loot - do you all care what little trinkets they got in their stockings? Julie is looking in a kaleidoscope here.



Sophie had a struggle getting her things out of the stocking, but that just made the fun last a bit longer.



We still had a bit of time left before breakfast, so they dug into a few prezzies. Sophie did pretty well tearing the paper off, with only a little bit of help.



Here she is admiring a new doggie bath towel. This was really a practical gift - the towels we have for them are all the ones meant for infants, and they really are getting worn out and too small for bundling them up after baths on chilly nights.



Julie trying out the stencil set.



And Sophie trying out a remote-control car (which we added to the list after my initial present post because it seemed like Julie had way more presents than she did.)



Finally, the breakfast was ready. An egg strata, from a simple recipe that allows you to do most of the prep work a day or two ahead of time, so final assembly is almost nothing. So tasty!



And, uh, those cherry turnovers that come out of a can. So naughty! So delicious. Joe's mom really enjoyed hers. I could have eaten about two more of them if there had been more to share around.



Aren't Joe's parents cute in their matching red sweaters?



Breakfast was over, and we resumed the gift opening...once Julie found her towel, they both modeled them for us.



Sophie enjoyed the melody harp, and in fact, Julie is out in the living room with Joe playing it right now.



The trampoline was a hit, although getting them to use it safely may be a challenge. (As in, keeping only one child on it at a time, getting them to hold, but not climb on the handle bar, etc.)



And here are a couple of little videos of the girls playing with their new toys. Sophie's ball-rolling toy...



and a silly duck puppet that quacks songs.

Here's what was in Joe's stocking - a copy of A Christmas Story, which I think is one of Joe's favorite Christmas movies (it's SO his sense of humor); a book of Yoshimoto Nara postcards - he's one of Joe's favorite artists; a head lamp that attaches to a baseball cap - Joe loves any excuse to get his headlamp out, and this one is small and easy to use; a jar of bacon-flavored salt because he is a bacon fiend; Pocky because it's one of the few candy-type things Joe likes; and a mini terrarium for growing venus flytraps because *I* thought it looked like fun.


Joe's parents headed home, and we spent a relatively quiet day trying out the new toys, and generally relaxing until it was time for the party to start once more. First the cousins arrived...Nathan learned how to walk since we last saw him at Thanksgiving.



And here is the whole family at the end of the evening.



Here is the luminary ice sculpture that our neighbors made for us - we love it when they bring these over.


And a wide view of our home just before the guests showed up.


Oh, and finally a little video of Joe using the snow blower. I thought it was funny because our driveway slopes a bit at the street, and he was sliding the last several feet down to the end.



Now I must go continue cleaning up the aftermath - I can hardly wait for this weekend to take down the tree and get all the crap put away! I love Christmas, and I'm always glad when it's over.