Shana's Musings

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Santa Came!!!

I still can not get over the wonder on Arabella's face on Christmas morning when, she sees that Santa has come and put presents under the tree. I am lucky that I also get to see that with Max...(although he didn't really understand and just was happy tearing through paper.) That is what the magic of Christmas is all about. And with each year, I hate that the wonder will come to an end with her. I am hopeful that she will believe for as long as I did. (I seriously think I was at least 12 when I grasped the whole Santa thing. My parents did an amazing job with it and having a brother 3 1/2 years younger, I went along with it. I have to say that I was sad when I figured it out.) Deep down, I do believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas. The joy, excitement and wonder on my kids faces on Christmas morning is all that matters. It is priceless and something that will stay with me forever.

Arabella couldn't believe that Santa brought her the Sofia the First vanity that she had been talking about for months.

She was also very, very excited to receive the Princess Palace Pets that she had asked for. She plays with them almost everyday!

Arabella loved helping max with his presents too. Arabella kept telling me that max wanted a pirate ship, go figure, from Santa...and guess what, Santa came through!

It was hard to avoid the Christmas morning gift opening chaos, but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

We had a relaxing day at home. Max had fun hanging out with Grampie, arabella took her new bike for a spin, we cooked and Grampie made a delicious prime rib dinner!

Merry Christmas!!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Visions Of Sugar Plums Dance In Her Head

I love these pictures that I took of Arabella after she fell asleep on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Catch-up

I can't believe that we are at the end of the second week of January 2014. Christmas seems so far away. And now that all the Christmas decorations are down and packed away, I feel sad. I am already thinking about what I didn't do this year and what I would like to do next year for Christmas. And I already started my Christmas shopping...early, I know, but when I see something I need to pick it up...now I just need to remember where I hide things. Christmas was a blur of activity filled with family and laughter. It was so nice to have our family at our house and to celebrate our first Christmas here. I loved all the excitement leading up to the day. Arabella and Max loved having more people to play with. We baked, cooked, laughed, wrapped, and hung out enjoying each other's company. It was a bit odd having both my mother and father in the same house together for a few days...it has been at least 15 years since that happened last. (But we are lucky that they get along.) Our house was full of Mom flew in from Florida, Lori flew down from Connecticut, Mike, Jeff, Rocco and Macy drove from Ohio, and Dad and Aunt Margo made the drive from Connecticut. It was a houseful and we managed to get along for the most part. Even with a few hiccups during the holidays, which were bound to happen with that many people and dogs in the house, it was a very Merry Christmas and I am glad we were together.

We made the best of our time together and kept busy by:

Making cookies...

Lori and I dressed like festive twins...

We had a bit of fun drinking Peppermint Bark Vodka and Tennessee Sipping Cream...

Max had his first pizzelle...

Jeff and Aunt Margo spent a lot of time outside...

We had "Christmas with Auntie Lori" before she left to fly back to Connecticut...

We had "Christmas with Grammie" before she flew back to Florida on Christmas Eve...

Arabella and Max had fun hanging out and playing with Uncle Mike and Rocco...

We got ready for Santa. Arabella left out magic reindeer food so they could find out house and then left out cookies, milk, carrots for Santa and the reindeer and dog treats for Santa Paws...