Christmas : Part 3

My apologies that my post titles are so lame, but this is the best way to cover all of our holiday celebrating. And, I can assure you that this is the final part of the trilogy.

This morning, we joined my mom for church services about the same time that Elaina usually naps. She was fairly well behaved, but still found a way to grab everyone's attention. Her babysitter (also) spoiled her with great Christmas gifts, one of which was an animal picture book. In an effort to keep Elaina occupied, Eric begins to flip through the pages with Elaina. Obviously, she recognizes nearly half of the animals and announces the sound each animal makes loud and clear for everyone around us to hear. It was plenty funny and I would have to guess that everyone around us was laughing at her as well. (Eric found another book very soon after.)

From church, we went to my parents' house to load up our goods and head for Eric's mom and dad's house. They were expecting around 30 family members over for Christmas dinner. Luckily, Elaina was able to put herself to sleep for a good long nap before dinnertime. Everyone was thrilled to see how big our sweet girl has gotten and she did her best to show off her good behavior. She is definately getting used to so many people doting on her that she just smiles and goes about her cuteness. ( notice how mom sorta sparks a little "doting" of her own :-))

We enjoyed yet another fabulous meal and I ate so much it was hard to feel good about myself . I should have asked for bigger sized pants this year the way I've been enjoying all of these great dinners and desserts. Once the extended family members left for the evening, it was time to get down to business. The business of opening presents !!

Santa was good to everyone once again ! In my professional opinion, (if shopping were a profession) I think everyone got some great stuff this year. Elaina got 2 of the most unique teddy bears ever from each of her aunts and uncles. One of the bears is a "Glo-e Bear" which is an incredibly soft, snuggly teddy that glows different colors from within by pushing a button on his hand. Elaina loves it and loves that she can make it light up on her very own. The coolest part about this bear is that he glows and changes colors for 15 minutes and then he shuts himself off. What a great idea for a bedtime companion ! The other bear that she received is a "Buddy Bear" which is filled with lavender scented buckwheat hulls. You can warm "Buddy" in the microwave to snuggle with and keep your baby warm or put "Buddy" in the freezer to comfort a child with a fever. Are these excellent bears or what ? Just another fine example of, "Why didn't I think of that ?"

Amongst other things, we got Elaina a dollhouse

since she is the "doll" of our house !

Elaina's Grandma and Grandpa W. got her an activity desk with her very own chair. It is really a cool desk that she'll get plenty of use from for years to come. Since she likes to color and read so much, I thought this could be as good of year as any to recommend it for her. They just happened to get her the super-duper-ultimate-toddler-desk that has loads of storage and growing room ! What kid wouldn't love that ?

By the time all of us finished unwrapping our gifts, and the the little ones were content playing with their new toys, we were ready to brave the unspeakable. The Chinese gift exchange, of course !! After many laughs and much, much stealing, I ended up with a green table runner and although I'm not entirely sure what Eric's final gift ended up being, his nephew comp'ed him an autographed picture of Steeler's quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. I didn't hear any complaints from my Steelers fan.
All in all, we had another great fun filled day which everyone was able to enjoy ! Can you believe that tomorrow is Christmas already ?
I wish I could pack up all of the great memories just this easily ...