Merry Christmas!

After spending most of Christmas day in our pajamas, we all got dressed and ready to go to Marco and Stacy's house around 3pm. Just before going, I'd made a chocolate tart to take with us for dessert (and I wore my matching apron from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Eric). I had the girls dress in their red dresses, with Olivia wearing Sofia's red dress from when she was that age. They both looked so cute and I was able to take a few photos of them, one with them and Buddy.

We headed over to Marco and Stacy's where we enjoyed appetizers and just hung out while Marco's pasta and meatballs and sausage in sauce simmered. We sat down to eat Christmas dinner around 4:30 and it was all delicious! We had pasta, sausage and homemade meatballs in sauce, salad and garlic bread. A real Italian treat and all made by Marco. After dinner, we relaxed for a while and let the kids open their gifts before we had dessert and coffee. The girls both got a bunch of stickers and a Paint Your Own Animal set, which they both love doing. Sofia also got a Build Your Own Stepping Stone, which will be fun to make. They both enjoy crafts and painting and loved their gifts.

We enjoyed the chocolate tart and espressos and just relaxed and hung out until it was time for the kids' bedtime. It was such a fun Christmas celebration and great to enjoy it with good friends.

The girls all dressed up on Christmas

The girls with Buddy

Another good one

Merry Christmas! Ready to enjoy some delicious Italian food!

Opening presents at Marco and Stacy's house

Playing with their new goodies that night....

Santa Came!

We woke up around 7:30am to little voices out in the living room and found two very excited little girls looking at their stocking goodies. Santa came while we slept! The girls had fun looking at their goodies together and comparing all that Santa brought each of them. CK also had a full stocking as did Buddy and myself and we all enjoyed going through our things while enjoying a cup of coffee. Santa brought Sofia her Greek Heroes book and two plastic play horses, as she requested and Olivia also got her spy glass and horses as well as a scooter of her own. She hadn't asked Santa for the scooter, but spends so much time on Sofia's when Sofia is at school, that it's a good thing Santa brought one of her own.

The girls moved their stockings onto the couch and pulled out all the little goodies: paint your own ornament, candies, little toys, etc before they split up and focused on their own things. Sofia started reading her book, which she's checked out of the library at school several weeks in a row and has probably read it at least three times through. Olivia tested out her spy glass and then decided to try out her scooter outside. Olivia zipped around on her new scooter down the sidewalk and loved it.

For breakfast, CK made biscotti, scrambled eggs and bacon which he received from a client. It was delicious, although CK's homemade biscuits are much better than the boxed biscuits. After we were filled up on breakfast, the girls stayed in the pajamas and played with their toys, read their new books, looked through all their new goodies from Santa, and ate cookies and candy canes. It was a very relaxed and fun Christmas morning and day.

Looks like Santa came in the night!

The girls looking at their Santa goodies together.

Sofia's stocking...

Papa's stocking....

Olivia and my stockings...

Olivia checking out her request from Santa - a spy glass!

Going through their stockings on the couch

An ornament to paint

What else is in there?

My favorite girls (and dog)!

Breakfast! Our biscotti made yesterday

Olivia on her brand new scooter

Off she goes!

Sofia looking for more gems

Testing out her spy glass

Playing with their new horses together

Presents!

Since we planned to spend Christmas afternoon and evening with our friends/neighbors Marco and Stacy and their boys, we decided to open presents on Christmas Eve. Instead of making a full meal, we chose to have cheeses, crackers, sliced meats, olives, apples and other snacks while we opened our presents in the living room. Sofia wore the Santa hat and passed our presents to each of us so that everyone had a pile, with Olivia and Sofia having the largest piles. We took turns opening presents and the girls were so excited to finally open up the presents they have been looking at, inspecting and holding for days. They were both eager to see what fun toys and things they received.

We started out by taking turns, but it quickly morphed into both girls opening their presents at the same time, which was probably a good thing since they both had so many gifts to open. Plus, both like to open their gifts and then start playing with them or put them together, rather than just move on to the next gift to be opened. Olivia received a lot of mermaids from Sian and family, a Touch Lights Board from her cousins in Atlanta, a necklace, My Little Poly and Turquoise dress from Aunt Becky and family, books from Gavin, and an apron that matches one given to me and her sister from her Great Aunt Cathy and Uncle Eric in Colorado. Sofia got a Harry Potter Wizard wand and stickers, Camp Half Blood and Harry Potter shirts from Sian and family, Magic School Bus fossil and dinosaur kit from her cousins in Atlanta, a My Little Pony, necklace and pink dress from Aunt Becky and family, a matching apron like her sister from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Eric, and a dinosaur floor puzzle and joke book from Gavin, which she immediately started reading off jokes and telling us the punch line. They both received Octonauts characters and toys as well as new clothes from us.

After all the presents were opened up, the girls got busy with playing with their favorites: The mermaids and Touch Lights Board for Olivia and the Mega Gemstone Mine Dig Kit and Jokes book for Sofia. After playing for a bit, both girls got into their pajamas to go to bed so Santa could come while they slept. They were both really excited to have so many great new toys to play with and went to bed excited for even more goodies from Santa.

Ready to open presents

Sofia sorting out the presents into piles for each person

Olivia and her pile of toys

The present opening begins!

Papa and Sofia with the Christmas tree decoration made by Aunt Becky. It quickly became a favorite in their horse games

Olivia and her Touch Lights board

Sofia and her joke book

Papa and Buddy

Getting Ready for Santa

Sofia really wanted to have gingerbread cookies for Santa, so I made a batch on the 23rd and the girls had fun rolling out the dough on Christmas Eve to make the cookies as fresh as possible. Both girls really like gingerbread, although Sofia absolutely loves it. I also made pistachio biscotti with lemon drizzle that I wanted to bring with us to Marco and Stacy's house, as well as have some on hand for our coffee. I absolutely love biscotti and especially those with almonds or pistachios.

While the gingerbread cookies were baking in the oven, the girls headed out front to throw out the reindeer food on the lawn for Santa's reindeer. Olivia and her class made a little reindeer food craft that included reindeer food which looks a lot like oatmeal with glitter in it. The girls had so much fun spreading out the reindeer food on the lawn and then ended up throwing it as high as they could. Once it was all out, we headed back to the kitchen to finish our gingerbread cookie baking (and eating).

That evening, after we were done opening and playing with presents, the girls got into their pjs and we read "The Night Before Christmas" to them before they gathered up the cookies and a glass of milk to set by the fireplace. Santa would have a lot of yummy cookies to eat when he arrived. Of course, since it was Christmas Eve our little friend Winter would be returning to the North Pole, which made Sofia a little bit sad. She really loves to see where Winter ends up each morning and what mischief she got up to in the middle of the night. Olivia could still care less about Winter. We said good night and goodbye to Winter and put the girls to bed and went to bed excited to see what Santa brings....

My little bakers

Rolling out the gingerbread cookie dough

Pistachio biscotti with lemon drizzle - yum!

Reindeer food

The girls are ready to throw out the reindeer food onto the grass

Sprinkling reindeer food on the grass

Giving the reindeer food a good toss across the grass

Setting out cookies and milk for Santa

The girls and cookies by the fireplace

The cookies and milk on a plate Olivia made in class

Our tree all lite up and ready for Santa to arrive