Christmas 2010

Kendall didn't quite grasp the concept of waking up in the morning to a living room full of presents, but boy did she catch on quickly!! Chris and I were both up before she was and found ourselves standing in the kitchen at 8:00 staring at the monitor wondering if we should go wake her up. She woke up shortly after 8 and was initially a bit shell shocked and just stood in the living room turning in circles. THEN she came to the conclusion that everything was for HER! And the Christmas chaos began.

The kitchen was an immediate hit. The trike not-so-much. But she did like the giant bow on it as well as the presents on it wrapped in Mickey Mouse paper. I think she'll warm up to the idea of the trike. I hope. It was not free.

Then it was stocking time! Out of all of the contents of her stocking, the "peaches" (clementine oranges) received the most excited response. Odd kid.
But then the candy canes ("treats") with hi-hi characters were discovered!
And "oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy" what is this?
It's the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!
Despite the look on his face, Ralphie was having a good time too.

We finally got her to take a ride on the trike and she enjoyed it (of course, the "treat" had to come along).

Then it was time to "opeeen mo prezzies!"
I must say that I was shocked at the positive reaction to the educational flashcards from Santa.
Perhaps she's an academic at heart!

Nana was the first guest to arrive. She was greeted with an excited "NANA!!! More Presents???!!!" Nana's first gift was a "Mo Mo" table and chairs set that proved to be a nice setting for the next round of opening ceremonies.
Again, the Mickey Mouse paper slowed down the opening process just a bit because I don't think she was so sure she wanted to tear Mickey and his pals! But she did.
This "moooosical" Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book from Auntie M also received high praise from my little Christmas diva. (and I absolutely adore the fact that it plays a lot of old songs that I remember singing with my Papa when we visited in Tucson, like "Casey Would Waltz with a Strawberry Blonde," "Daisy Daisy," and "I've been working on the Railroad," to name a few. Of course, the lyrics are obnoxiously re-written in the book but fortunately the book doesn't sing, so I can sing what I want to with it!) Auntie M also got Kendall a talking/singing broom/trash can/dust bin set that, quite loudly, sings "Sweeping, Sweeping, Sweeping ... you missed a spot!" I think Kendall may want to keep her cleaning equipment at Nana's house. :)
Then she opened her "puzzie" from Nana. The pieces of the puzzle are different colored, patterned pants and shirts to "dress" the doll, whom Kendall astutely pointed out was "nakey" underneath the pieces.
I'm sure it was a stressful day for my fur-kids but they all received gifts and lots of attention. Here is Ginger snuggling with Daddy.
And here is Rehn gutting his new Loofa stuffy.
And here is Ralphie clearly preferring the rawhide from his stocking over his new Loofa stuffy.
Back to the skin-kid: her next gift from her parents was a Minnie Mouse hat and mittens set. We had to distract her with the television and a candy cane before she allowed the hat anywhere near her head.
She also received a Minnie Mouse hooded towel (again, this had to be snuck into place for a picture).
Grandmother and Pops showed up just in time for Kendall's inquisitions regarding "more presents?" to turn into demands for "more presents!"
They delivered! The new easel was enough to tide her over for the rest of the day so more presents were not again demanded until it was dark.

This picture speaks volumes about how we ALL felt at the end of the day ... except perhaps Kendall. It seems that all energy possessed by the adults (and dogs) in the house was mysteriously transferred to the child in the house. What a day! It was truly wonderful. And I am without a doubt a Christmas fanatic, but I can honestly say that I will not be ready for this again for a good year!

Christmas Eve 2010

Despite a gallant show of resistance from my husband, my decision to have Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve this year prevailed. Of course, had I thought about the fact that I was working the day before Christmas Eve, I may not have been such a strong advocate of this idea, but it wound up being a significantly better idea than adding to the 2010 Christmas Day chaos! (post coming as soon as I have time to go through 100+ pictures) And actually, Nana and Grandmother did the vast majority of the side-dish cooking and Chris cooked the turkey in the "turkey tanning bed" so my stress was really focused on getting (and keeping) the house and myself presentable. The turkey turned out perfectly delicious! Two "test chickens" were tanned earlier in the week, both of which were dry, despite being cooked to the proper temperature. Guess the 3rd time was the charm for poultry tanning! We had a nice dinner but my idea of getting beautiful family photos taken while we were all dressed and looking decent was thwarted by the 2.5 foot tall dictator of the house. We DID get a good shot of Kendall and Nana, something we failed to get last year on Kendall's first Christmas (a faux pax for which I will feel guilty for a long time).

I am not a fan of this picture, but it was the best of about 10 attempts at a family picture.

We also got a couple of good pictures of me and Kendall (again, a rarity from Christmas 2009).

Kendall was uncooperative for any further pictures that evening. She went to bed on time after we read her Elf on the Shelf book to her for the last time this year. We explained that "Mick Elf" would not be here in the morning because he was returning to the North Pole with Santa (who she would NOT see as he would be here ONLY to bring her toys, and NOT to go near her or disturb her slumber). Santa came a bit later than I had planned due to the fact that "Santa" refused to even look at the instructions for putting together Kendall's trike until 8:30 that evening and one of the parts turned out to be "difficult" (and probably faulty but what was Santa going to do at that point?) and one of the necessary tools for the trike assembly was not readily available. This wouldn't have bothered me as much had "Santa" not taken the trike and hidden it from me (he actually took it to work with him) to keep me from attempting to put it together in a timely fashion (insert heavy sigh here). Anyhow, the trike was finished (albeit rickety and in need of further attention) by 11:30.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care ... and then removed promptly after pictures were taken so the dogs couldn't help themselves while we slept.

Here is the loot! Most of it Kendall's.

As an aside, note what is on the television. This household dutifully payed homage to the full 24 hours of "A Christmas Story," that TBS was kind (?) enough to provide.

Yes, I did it to her again ...

Upon further reflection, I decided that the acquisition of the annual Santa's lap picture mattered more to me than the temporary dissolution of my child's (typically cheery) mental status. I'd really like to have pictures of her sitting on the same Santa's lap for each of the precious few years of her little life that she actually believes in him. This Santa has already been doing the Northpark Mall Santa gig for 26 years ... I need to him to last another 8 or so! We actually attended "storytime" with Santa while we waited for our number to be called. As an aside, we got to the mall 5 minutes after it opened and acquired number 56, and thus a 3.25 hour wait. Gotta love Dallas. Anyhow, storytime was not a hit so we aborted that effort and just hung out at the Disney store and with some friends who joined us. Kendall was SO brave in line and even looked at Santa through the little window to his house and said "Santa! I NO CRY!" But then she did. Loudly. Again.

I raised my voice above the screaming to inquire as to whether my actions of purposely terrifying my child would result in my relegation to the "naughty list" and was assured that if that were the case, there would be a lot of parents' names on that list. When I fessed up and said, "yes, but I've now done this to her twice this year ...." he recommended that I might want to be "extra nice" to my kid for while. Done! :)

Here is last year's picture:

And here is THIS year's picture. Two things are immediately apparent to me: (1) Kendall has gone from mere scepticism regarding Santa's intentions toward her to sheer terror, and (2) Santa appears to look much more "adoring" of babies than he is of toddlers. This may be due to the fact that he had to use some muscle to hold her on his lap this year ...

Maybe next year they'll be friends?? I keep hoping the same for her poor pediatrician.

Breakfast Attire

Kendall is becoming increasingly more opinionated about her attire. It started with insisting on wearing a particular pair of shoes (that are too small), regardless of whether or not they complemented her outfit (which, actually, bothered me more than the potential, inadvertent binding of her feet). Then she started insisting on wearing a pink bow in her hair with red outfits ... and a red bow with pink outfits. I'm pretty sure this is a deliberate attempt to hurt my eyes. Now, for some inexplicable reason, she is vehemently opposed to wearing any bib other than her "Halloween Mick-bib" at mealtime. Nevermind her various winter and holiday bibs handmade for her by Nana (perhaps she'll wear these at Easter?). Nevermind the fact that the orange bib goes with nothing in her current wardrobe. Nevermind the pain it causes her mothers eyes. This morning, a ball cap (worn backwards) was required to complete the ensemble at breakfast. sigh ...

Bye bye high chair!

Hello big girl eat seat! We never had a real "high chair" for Kendall because my idea from the beginning was to have ONE contraption that could be both a high chair with a tray AND a booster seat for the table. My idea was thwarted, however, when we acquired a new table under which the Space Saver high chair (that attached to the kitchen chairs) did not fit. So when someone's belly started making use of the tray uncomfortable, if not impossible, I wound up purchasing yet another booster seat. Hopefully this will be the last one. So far, it has worked well. The first few meals did not go well when Kendall realized that she could no longer demand to have her "seat moved" to watch "hi-hi's tv" in the living room (an added, yet unintentional perk of the elimination of the tray). But after the purchase of some Elmo placemats, mealtime has dramatically improved. Here are some pictures of my baby eating like a big girl!

He's in our front yard ...

... and I think it's safe to say that he is 100% ADORED!!! (and the little person who rules this household may never allow him to leave.)