It's a Wonderful Life

Yes it is. We had a great holiday. The girls fully enjoyed every minute of their time off from school. And you know what, I did too. Sometimes having everyone home for days and days and days, well, it can be overwhelming. But this time around, I really enjoyed not having a schedule, not having to be anywhere at any particular time. It was easy, and fun, and well, did I say this already, easy.

Christmas Eve we went to the Smiths. It is a nice tradition we have. We really had a great time this year. We went before church, had a little cocktail hour and present exchange. We then headed back to their house for a delicious dinner. It was easy to get the girls to get in the car and come home, after all, there was a special visitor coming that night!

We got home and did a quick snack for Santa, threw out the reindeer food, wrote a note to Santa and the tooth fairy (Maura lost her tooth again this year!) and went to bed. The girls woke up around 7:00 on Christmas morning and peered over the balcony to see that Santa did indeed come. They were thrilled. It was a lazy but fun and exciting day just staying at the house doing puzzles, performing magic shows and driving around our new (toy) minivan. B also did this with hair extensions in. These were her two favorite gifts of the year. Mags got an American girl Doll and lots of clothes. Maura got membership into the peep of the month club! And Kerri adored her Dora pillow pet. Both sets of grandparents came and spent the day with us. My dad made the girls Jewelry boxes... very sweet. Their names and his are engraved. I hope they will treasure it always,

We did the train and the light show the next day and exchanged gifts with the O'Reillys on Monday. The kids had a ball and loved all their gifts, and trip to the Please Touch Museum rounded off a great visit with the Arlington O'Reillys.

The rest of the week was spent doing some simple but fun things with the girls. NYE was even fun. We went for a hike at VF park and had a fabulous dinner at home in the dining room... table set by Mags. Roasted marshmallows, read my book. A great way to kick out the old and bring in the new. Oh, and we booked a trip to Mexico for our 10th anniversary with the Shorts! SO excited. All in all a great holiday. So sad it is over, so sad that another year has gone by and my girls are getting older and older. I wish I could bottle this time and keep it forever.