Holiday Cheer

We had an exceptionally busy holiday season, as always. This year was pretty delightful though because Sabine was excited and enjoyed everything, but she also wasn't so overly crazy and wound up that she made the house nuts.

This may be a little odd, but because Hanukah fell during the mad rush of the Christmas week this year, we decided to move it up a bit. We did Hanukah about a week early. It actually turned out pretty well for us because Sabine got to enjoy lighting the candles and saying the blessing (well, Max and I said the blessing as best we could) Then she got to warm-up into opening presents. At first she wasn't so sure about it. She wanted me to do it for her, then with her. Finally, by Christmas morning and the day after she was on to doing it herself.

Child got hooked up, I have to say! Below is her pic with her new iPod (it's a Sweet Pea, designed just for kids)

Though she did get presents, we tried to put the focus less on the gifts and on Santa coming, and more on the joy of having family (and Jack the dog) here for a visit. I find it so funny that everyone in the stores kept asking her: "Is Santa Claus coming to see you?" when really, she didn't SEE Santa at all. Who came to see her were her aunt and uncle, and her grandparents. We didn't sit on Santa's lap and she didn't have a wish list. The only thing she really really wanted was a Hello Kitty (of course) lunchbox. And that was something she'd been asking for for 6 months. She didn't think to ask Santa for it, she just got it as a special present from Mom and Dad. Honestly, the only real comment she made spontaneously about Santa came on Christmas morning. She looked at me during a quiet moment and said: "I didn't hear the reindeer on the roof last night" Hmm...

Well, we had a houseful. My sister and brother in law and their dog came from Charlotte. They didn't actually stay here, they stayed with my brother up the road, but they hung out a lot. And my parents came for two nights. Then on Christmas morning after opening gifts and stockings we had brunch for my mom's extended family. (more on the food in another post)

I think the highlight of the holiday for Sabine was really that Jack came to visit. Sabine is totally in LOVE with animals. I don't know how long we'll be able to hold off on getting a pet because she is so ridiculously cute with them. We kept saying 'Oh, Liz and Jamie are coming to visit!!" and she'd say, without fail: "And JACK!!!" Then for the entire first day she chased his cute white tail all over our house. (Liz and I were delighted because they wore each other out, ha!)

This is Sabine dressed up as 'Super Dog!!!' Notice the pink fuzzy cape!

Here is Sabine on Christmas morning:
A Candy Cane Smile

The Scooter from Eva, David and Adrian was a definite hit. She took to it right away. Add in a dog and you get total bliss!!

Checking out new bunny toys

Crashed out in the car on the way from Richmond to my grandmother's house outside Lynchburg,VA. A 45 minute nap on Christmas day and she kept on partying well into the night.
All through the hour long drive from there to my parents' house she kept yelling: "LIGHTS!!!" every time we saw Holiday lights along the road. Then she wanted me to yell 'LIGHTS" and she would whisper it. Finally she got loopy and was saying: "Uh-Oh Spaghetti-O" and she changed it up " Uh-oh Daddy-O" "Uh-oh, Piggy-o" "Uh-oh, Julianna-o" and on and on and on. We were ready for bed when we got to Roanoke, Whew!