Christmas Afternoon

While Morgan napped under her new quilt from Mayie, Aimee, Russ, Henry and Alex arrived for the Christmas afternoon festivities. Alex used the Morgan-free time to bond with Gwen by the Christmas tree.

Meanwhile, Morgan's nap time gave Andy a chance to try out his big Christmas present: a new camera. This, of course, meant experimenting by taking artsy photos of stuff like fruit.

Before long, though, Morgan was awake and ready to invite her guests into her ball pit. Come one, come all!

When it was time to open presents, Morgan was eager to play Santa and hand out gifts. She was also eager to see what Mayie, P-Pa, Aimee, Russ, and the boys had brought for she and Gwen.

As usual, everyone showered the girls with fun gifts: an interactive game for Gwen, a treasure chest of dress-up clothes for Morgan, books, bathtub toys, kitchen toys, art supplies, and plenty of little girl clothes that Mayie and Aimee are thrilled to finally have a chance to shop for.

During the present-opening frenzy, Morgan finally got around to opening the last few gifts from Santa left over from Christmas morning, including an ice cream play set and some finishing touches for her dollhouse.

For dinner, Ariella and Lindsay outdid themselves by cooking up an amazing holiday menu: rib eye roast with porcini mushroom and bacon gravy, potato gratin with mushroom and gruyere cheese, risotto, Caesar salad, and sweet potato souffle.

A full day of holiday festivities and a hearty Christmas dinner were more than enough to make us all want to settle our brains for a long winter's nap. But unfortunately, a winter storm was looming in New Jersey and New England. So Mayie, P-Pa, and Lindsay all decided to load up their sleighs and head home on Christmas night.

Even though Old Man Winter cut our Christmas party a little short, we're glad we were able to spend a great day with family. The girls are very thankful for all the wonderful gifts.

Before everyone could leave, Morgan snuck in a final bit of holiday fun: she invited Alex into her ball pit one last time to read her a good night story.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning finally arrived, and it didn't take Morgan long to notice her first present: a her own ball pit! In fact, she was still at the top of the stairs when she cried, "What is it?!? I see the ball pit!"

Morgan ended up spending most of the day in the ball pit -- with guest appearances by just about everyone in the family -- and took occasional breaks to open presents, of course.

The girls checked out their stockings first. Morgan's stocking was stuffed with a "Rex" flashlight (dinosaur gift #1), a coloring book, bracelets, markers, and a NY Subway "C" train (the one that goes to Aunt Mimi's apartment in Brooklyn.)

Gwen's stocking had stuffed Oscar the Grouch and Grover dolls, stacking cups, board books, and a bunch of fun bath toys.

After stockings, we headed to the dining room for breakfast. Keeping up with a Christmas tradition, Ariella cooked her delicious cinnamon rolls. Then it was back to the living room to continue opening presents.

We thought for sure that Morgan would tear through the pile of presents. But instead, she meticulously opened each gift, then wanted to play with each one before moving on to the next present. After opening up Ernie and Super Grover dolls, she made sure the entire Sesame Street gang reunited for Christmas. (She's so thoughtful.)

Morgan and Gwen each bought gifts for each other. Gwen got Morgan a cool set of dinosaur refrigerator magnets (dinosaur gift #2). Morgan got Gwen a fun ball popper, which she helped her open.

The girls each got gifts for Mom and Dad, too. Dad got tree ornaments with the girls' handprints on them. Mom got stuff that came in pretty blue boxes.

The girls ran out of steam about half way through the pile of presents. Morgan headed back to her ball pit for some down time. Gwen decided she was perfectly comfortable on Mom's lap, so she just took a nap there.

Morgan eventually mustered up the strength to open up some rubber dinosaurs (dinosaur gift #3). Then when we heard Mayie and P-Pa pulling into the driveway -- which seemed like a good time to give everyone a break.

Of course, this was hardly the end of the Christmas fun. Stay tuned.

Twas the Day Before Christmas

'Twas the day before Christmas

And all through our den,

Not a nostril was sneezing,

Not Morgan's, not Gwen's.

Yes, it's true! After two years of nasty Christmas colds, Morgan was finally healthy for Christmas. Even Gwen managed to squeeze in some healthy holiday cheer after a string of ear infections and antibiotics. Needless to say, this put us all in the holiday spirit.

Morgan and Aunt "Mimi" started the day by drawing with chalk. Morgan whipped-up the picture above for Santa -- not sure if it's a fingerprint, or some sort of topographical map. But you gotta love her drawing skills for 2.5 years. (The apple didn't fall far from Mom's or Dad's tree.)

In the afternoon, everyone decorated Gingerbread -- err... Graham Cracker -- Houses while Gwen supervised from her perch at the head of the table. This year's decorations included Necco wafers, gumdrop rings, red licorice, generic Cap'n Crunch, and the ultra-traditional Christmas Gummi Dinosaurs.

After our customary Mexican Christmas Eve dinner (which was downsized this year to a 7-layer nacho dip and chips), we loaded up the car to go see Christmas lights in the area. But first, Morgan pretended she was Santa and tried to attach "nacho" antlers to Gwen the Reindeer.

After looking at Christmas lights, all that was left to do was put out some cookies for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer).

Morgan wanted to leave a cup of coffee for Santa, too. But when she ran into the kitchen to help Mom make it, she accidentally dropped the special Santa mug, which smashed all over the kitchen floor.

She immediately got a horrible, worried look on her face. We could practically hear the thoughts racing through her brain -- "Oh no! Santa is going to be mad at me! I was SO close! Now I'm going to end up on the Naughty List!" It was a classic Ralphie "Oh FUDGE" moment.

Luckily, Ariella was Mommy-on-the-Spot with a new coffee mug. Santa would never notice the difference. Christmas was saved!

Feed Me!

Gwen finally got her first taste of solid food on Saturday, December 18.

Our pediatrician recommended trying her on solid food to help fill her up more, so she'll sleep through the night. So far, that hasn't been the case. However, eating solid food has already caused a sudden spike in silly faces from Miss Gwen.

For comparison, here are Morgan's photos from her first adventure with solid food.