It's Not 2009 Anymore

After preschool today, Gracie told me, "It isn't 2009 anymore; it's 2010." That reminded me I have been planning on posting how we welcomed in the new year. We wanted Gracie to be able to celebrate so she would start to understand New Year's a little. We put Ellie to bed and let Gracie stay up a little late (which is always cause for celebration as far as she is concerned), broke out the party hats, ate snacks and put together a puzzle ... all with the occasional "Happy New Year" thrown in throughout the evening.

Deck the Dolls

Ellie isn't very cooperative when it comes to taking pictures lately, but I had to get a few shots of my little princesses in their Christmas dresses. And yes, the missing presents in the one picture are proof that multiple attempts were necessary to get a mildly decent shot of our Ellie Bean. Gracie, however was mostly happy to pose, however I'm not sure what the pouty face was about in the one shot. Scott was managing the photo shoot at the time (which also explains why Gracie is wearing her pink and blue princess bracelet; he's the nice one).

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

This year we stayed home for the holidays, but Grandpa, Grandma, Brian and Becka joined us for the Christmas festivities. Everyone stayed at our house Christmas Eve because Gracie insisted on a sleepover. In addition to having them here, some of the highlights this year were:

• Gracie's total excitement, which started around Thanksgiving. Her excitement only escalated each day as she put the ornament on our Advent calendar (my mom made), which is still (and will always be) my favorite and most treasured Christmas decoration. It brought back my own childhood excitement to watch Gracie as she put up each ornament and spent so much time looking at the calendar and asking questions about the ornaments.


• Adding Tinsel (Gracie named him) to our Christmas traditions. He is an elf that will come to our house every year around Thanksgiving, and he will watch us and report back to Santa every night until Christmas. Gracie loved finding the new spot where he was sitting each morning, and Ellie just loved to point at him and smile.


• Watching Ellie try to figure out what Christmas was all about. And trying to keep her from tearing all the tags off the gifts, the only real interest she had in the pile of presents under the tree.


• Another new tradition: putting together the leg lamp puzzle on Christmas Eve.

• Gracie shaking and correctly guessing what the first gift I wrapped for her was (shoes).


• Hearing Ellie say "ho-ho-ho" whenever she saw Santa or if you asked her what Santa says.


• Gracie starting to understand the true meaning of Christmas.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll save you some time and share just a glimpse of the memories we made in pictures.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day