Christmas Day 2012

Samantha woke up first on Christmas morning (of course) and she got to take a quick peek at the presents that Santa had left for her and her sister.  She was thrilled!  In fact, there was a certain little pony-on-a-stick that caught her eye right away.

Then, we got Sophia up and ready, and posed for a quick picture at the top of the stairs.

Sophia rode her pony over to check out all of the presents under the tree:

Checking out the stockings that were too heavy to hang from their holders on the mantle now:

Going through their stockings:

The girls each received a few wind-up toys in their stockings.  Each one was so animated, that Sophia wasn't quite sure what to think of them at first!

All that Samantha asked Santa for this year was a rubber duckie.  And Santa came through for her with something even more spectacular than the standard, run-of-the-mill yellow rubber duckie.  It was a firefighter duckie!  Her Christmas was complete ...

Mia, one of our cats, was unsure about all of the gifts under "her tree."  She loves to lay under the Christmas trees and these gifts were in her way!

Sophia's special gift from Santa was this Little People Princess Castle.  The girls have had so much fun playing with it!

Samantha's special gift was this animated Doc McStuffins doll that she didn't even know existed.  Santa did his homework and secured the gift early this season because they are nowhere to be found now ...

Santa brought Momma a jewelry tree that she had asked for:

Both of the girls received some hand puppets because they love putting on puppet shows together:

And Sam opened a "Where's Waldo" book.  At first she wasn't really sure what kind of book it was, but now that she understands ... well, she loves it!  That girl is amazing at finding him on all of the pages!

Sam's doctor coat (so that she can be like Doc McStuffins):

Samantha even did a little shopping of her own (with Daddy) and picked out a few gifts for Sophia and me.

Searching for more a few more presents under the tree:

Sam picked out some socks, a candle and a spatula for me:

Hard at work, putting the princess castle together with Daddy:

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Around lunchtime, my family arrived to celebrate the holiday with us.  We had a big meal together and then the girls were able to open more gifts from them!

The girls each received their very own sleeping bag (complete with their names embroidered on them) from Grammy and Papa!

Uncle Jake and his girlfriend, Alyssa, bought the girls a FurReal horse.  They were in complete awe over him.

Finally, we celebrated Uncle Jake's birthday!  We do this every year on Christmas because we are all together and his birthday is the next day.  The girls were more than happy to help him blow out his candle!

Christmas Eve 2012

Every year, for as long as I have been a part of Steve's family, we have celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with Steve's parents, sister, brother-in-law and their children.  His sister hosted the event this year at her house, so we headed over there in the afternoon with lots of food and gifts.

After enjoying a delicious lasagna dinner, my girls were anxious to begin opening all of the presents that were overflowing out from under the Christmas tree.  I remember how excited Deb's three kids were many years ago.  Now, they are teenagers and the excitement is a little more toned-down.  But before we could open gifts, I wanted to be sure to get at least one quick family photo.  And we had success!

One of Santa's little helpers:

Another one of Santa's helpers:

Sophia got her own little baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa ... and it was one of the highlights of her whole Christmas.  Sophia's maternal instinct is so strong and she definitely has a soft-spot for a baby doll. 

At any given time during the course of the evening, Sophia could be found randomly feeding her baby:

Samantha received a new Michigan State sweatshirt from Aunt Deb and Uncle Dennis.  Her other one was one of her most prized possessions and got to be too small.  Sophia has now inherited it.  I was insistent that it would be a nice gift for Aunt Deb to get her and Aunt Deb was a little leary of the idea, thinking that Sam wouldn't get that excited about it.  Well, she was wrong!  I know my girl pretty well, and she squealed when she opened it and then proceeded to take her dress off and wear just the sweatshirt with her tights for the rest of the evening.

Steve received the CUTEST six pack of "man pop" from his sister.  She made each of the bottles into reindeer.

Goofing around with her Daddy:

Sophia received her very own backpack from Aunt Deb and Uncle Dennis.  Sam has a mouse one and Sophia has wanted one of her very own ever since Sam started school this Fall.  She wore her new ladybug backpack around for most of the night.

After the presents were unwrapped and packed away in laundry baskets for transportation, we indulged in some desserts.  Then we got the girls bundled up and headed home because we had a few more things to take care of there before bedtime.

The girls sprinkled their reindeer food on the front lawn and then came inside to open their traditional Christmas Eve presents from Steve and me.  Every year, I wrap up a new pair of pajamas for the girls and they get to unwrap them and wear them to bed on Christmas Eve, and then of course, on Christmas morning.

Samantha, posing with her gingerbread nightgown:

And this little lady was starting to get tired.  Afterall, it was two hours past her normal bedtime.

Opening her reindeer pajamas:

We then headed upstairs for a bedtime story -- 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. 

Sophia was snuggled in bed (and probably happy to be there) while Samantha came back downstairs with us to set out her milk and cookies for Santa.

She helped hold the glass while Daddy poured the milk ...

... and then snuck a quick swig.  I don't think that Santa minded one bit.

While I was getting her all tucked in bed, Steve did something a little sneaky -- he set her clock back exactly one hour.  She is so accustomed to getting up at 7:00 am, and we wanted to allow her at least an extra hour of sleep.  The truth is, it bought us about an extra 45 minutes.  We'll take it.  I was able to get my shower and make sure that everything was in place, and Steve got to sleep in for a little bit longer. 

Reindeer Food

On Saturday, we invited our little friends, Anna and Isabella, over to help us make reindeer food.  This is something that I did with Samantha last year (Sophia was too young to partake in the activity), and Sam really enjoyed it.  I knew for sure that she would REALLY like it this year. 

I put together six jars of various things that the girls could choose to fill their bags with.  We had oatmeal, toasted bread crumbs, potato chips, raisins and then two very magical things: flying powder (aka flour) and glitter.  These bags of "reindeer food" were to be sprinkled on the front lawn on Christmas Eve so that the reindeer would have their own little snack while Santa was busy delivering presents inside the house.  The glitter was used to help guide the reindeer to us on Christmas Eve.

We let the "little girls" -- Sophia and Isabella -- go first.

They had more fun doing this than I even imagined.

And then we let the "bigger girls" have their turn.

It was "all smiles" from them as I explained what each of the special things were for inside the jars.

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On Christmas Eve, we put our girls in their boots and coats and let them go outside to sprinkle their reindeer food before bedtime.  The girls had a blast shuffling through the snow, leaving a trail of crumbs and glitter for each of Santa's reindeer.

It was like Sophia completely understood what to do ...

Scattering the food (and glitter) all over:

It was definitely a chilly night!