Christmas craziness

For our last post of 2010, Henry and I are wrapping up our Christmas posts with a look at some of our Christmas craziness. We were so giddy over all of our presents, and all the visitors, that it lead to lots of silly moments. Like the time I pretended to nap on my Tiana body pillow...


Or, sadly, the moments I got upset for absolutely no real reason (like seeing Henry laying on my Tiana pillow)...



But the silliest moments were captured on camera, like when I played around with Mom's dishwasher gloves and horsed around with Uncle Ryan, or when Henry "rode" his Toy Story body pillow.



So, for the last time, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good year! See you in 2011!

Joyride

Uncle Ryan always gets Julia and me something spectacular for Christmas, but this year he really outdid himself: he and Aunt Jess got us a Cadillac Escalade! Okay, it's the kids version, but still, it's motorized and looks and drives just like the real thing (it even has a working FM radio!). You know how much I love cars, so I immediately jumped in. Julia took a few extra moments to warm up, but she quickly fell in love too. Especially because she was the one doing the driving!






Now we have a must-see video of our blissful joyride in the Escalade. And if you want a glimpse at what Mom and Dad are going to have to deal with in 13 years when Julia is learning to drive for real, look no further:



At the tail end of that video was footage of the other vehicle I got for Christmas: Julia got me a firetruck with a working firehose (too bad no one filled it up!).


That was fun too! What a car-tastic Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like family pictures

If you thought that getting me and Julia to smile together was a Christmas miracle, take a look at these: the whole family posed for these great photos.





Then Julia and I decided to spread the holiday cheer and pose with Aunt Jess (Uncle Ryan hadn't arrived yet):



Then it was time for us to take pictures with Babcia and Dido.



And last but not least, Grandma and Grandpa:



We sure loved spending Christmas with the family!

Gifted

On Christmas morning, Henry and I rushed downstairs to see what Santa had left us (well, I rushed down; Henry just came down normally). Here's a look at what happened next: Henry wasn't too interested at first, but I was excited from the get-go.



In his stocking, Henry found these neat Buzz Lightyear slippers.


He also got some Thomas the Tank Engine trains...


Meanwhile, I got - yes! - Bride Barbie, which I had been on my Christmas wishlist for months.


I had also asked Santa for a unicorn pillow pet, and he came through with that one too!


He also got me this terrific set of Disney princess dolls.


Henry started playing with his new Thomas train set right away. He loved it!




It was so fun to have Aunt Jess there with us for Christmas!



Santa also got Henry a Little People airport set...


And a new, taller ramp to race his cars down.



Henry was so happy!


I loved spending the day with Mom.


Not only did I get Bride Barbie, but Henry got me the Barbie and Ken dolls from Toy Story 3!


Here's a look at Henry and I playing with all our Christmas toys: the trains, Princesses, Bride Barbie, Tiana body pillow and pillow pet.



What a festive Christmas! Thanks for all the great gifts, Santa!

Christmas cuties

The Christmas spirit really brought out the best in Julia and me over the holidays. On Christmas Eve, dressed in our spiffy holiday outfits, we were so excited that we did something Mom and Dad couldn't get us to do all year long: pose for several supercute photos together.




Seriously, who's more adorable than us?

The night (and day) before Christmas

Well, Henry and I had a very merry Christmas this year! We have so much to share with you, so let's dive right in and talk about Christmas Eve. First off, weren't both our Christmas Eve outfits super-adorable? I especially loved my red ruby slippers. I felt just like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz! And Henry looked so grown-up! Speaking of grown-up, I went to the hairdresser with Mom and had my hair professionally done for the first time. I asked them to make it look just like Wendy's from Peter Pan, and they pulled it off!

Mom started the day off by making me some Christmas-shaped pancakes. Look, an elf!


Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Jess came up to help celebrate (Uncle Ryan was feeling sick so he didn't come up until the next day). After going to Christmas Mass (I was so exhausted from the Christmas excitement that I slept through the whole thing), it was time for our traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner. But Henry's favorite course that night was something that wasn't on the regular menu: candy canes!



Come to think of it, my favorite part of the meal wasn't on the menu either: ketchup!


Here's a video featuring all of the Christmas Eve highlights, like me showing off my Christmas dress, Henry being riveted by our Talking Elmo doll (and me being mean and taking it away), the gingerbread house I made with Mom (just like we do every year), Dido playing a sneaky trick on me by pretending that Santa was coming, all of us caroling, and me singing one of the children's choir Christmas songs:



It was truly a great day, but then Christmas was even better...

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas! The big day is finally here, and Julia and I wanted to share some Christmas odds and ends from the past week. This photo was taken last week when we all went into the city for Jonathan and Saffron's birthday party (much more on that in a couple weeks), and we stopped to look at the Rockefeller Christmas tree. A few days ago, we visited Grandma and Grandpa, and went to G-Boys, where they always do a winter wonderland (we saw Santa there too). Here's a look at me running wild there:



Speaking of winter wonderlands, we discovered a great one a few miles away at a place called the Christmas Caverns. We went there on Thursday and Julia and I had a blast!




Take a look at our video from the visit:



That's it for now. We'll check back in next week and let you know what Santa left for us under the tree. Until then, we wish you a Merry Christmas!