Maybe Next Year: A Summary of Christmas 2006

To say that Christmas with the girls was a bit of a disappointment is an understatement. I was fully prepared for them not to "get" Christmas -- they are, after all, only 19 mos old. But I did think some of the toys -- or at least the wrapping paper, for goodness sake - would have had some appeal. Nope.

Christmas Eve
We spent the evening at my sister-in-law's. My parents came as well. Perfect as it is across the street from us. An easy escape with cranky babies and parents who offered to stay with them after bedtime while we spent more time across the street. Boy have I learned the importance of a good nap before such occasions. L did not nap well and was a crab apple for most of the evening. She was at the front door quite a bit. I suppose an appeal to go home. A enjoyed rifling through her aunt's kitchen cabinets and scattering their contents all over the floor. L did a bit better at dinner until... Santa paid us a visit. With his jolly red suit and his "ho ho ho" he came into the house and into the dining room. L started hysterically crying, to the point that she almost made herself throw up. Fun stuff. (Although I have to admit that it will make a good story to tease her with when she gets older.) They were ready for bed before any gifts were opened. In fact, we ended up just bringing them home and saving them for Christmas morning.

Christmas Morning
Despite the girls' lack of interest in all things Christmas the night before, I still had rather high hopes for opening gifts on Christmas morning . In addition to a few fun bigger toys, we had gotten them each a plush Barney doll, which was sure to be a hit as they are HUGE Barney fans these days. With visions of them snuggling their Barneys for the rest of the day we took them into the living room. First, they bypassed all gifts in favor of running around between the living room and dining room -- rooms they do not usually spend much time in. When they finally showed interest in any of their gifts, it was a drum full of instruments and they were most interested in carrying around the lid/top of the drum. When Barney was finally noticed by L, she took him out of her stocking, gave him the once over, and dropped him on the floor. A's never left her stocking. You get the idea.

Christmas Dinner
If you have made it through reading the above, you can use your imagination as to how the rest of the day went. Let's just say that we again went home with unopened gifts. I think their favorite part of the day was the nice nap they took at Grandma & Grandpa T's.

Maybe next year...