Christmas arrived two weeks early this year -- well, part of Christmas, at least -- as we celebrated the holidays with Nanna and Grandpa Sakraida during their recent visit from Utah.
Opening presents under the tree, visiting with Aunt Kathy, Uncle Mike and Great-Grandma Marge (a.k.a. "G.G."), a trip to the aquarium, and decorating lots and lots of cookies were just some of the highlights of the pre-Christmas festivities.
On Saturday morning, the girls were surprised to see presents from Nanna and Grandpa under the Christmas tree. By day's end, Morgan's present haul included a Christmas set for her dollhouse, a new game, a giant roll of paper to draw on, big & little sister dolls, "big kid" Legos, and a Veterinarian play set so she can take care of all her stuffed animals.
Gwen has grown a lot since last Christmas, and was excited to open all of her presents, which included a bath set, car seat and feeding set for her Baby Stella, a toddler "Belle", and a set of Duplo blocks of her very own.
At one point, Morgan grabbed the camera and started snapping pictures. This shot of Andy is the best one.
Gwen got into the holiday spirit by donning her Santa hat, and then decorating Aunt Lindsay with stickers.
In the afternoon, G.G., Mike and Kathy came down from New York to partake in the holiday festivities and have the annual gift swap. Jenny busted out her outrageous Christmas sweatshirt for the occasion (although that was hardly the biggest surprise she and Jon would drop on us that weekend).
Having raised four kids of her own, G.G. is a natural with the girls. Morgan and Gwen are always so happy to see her.
Ariella and the girls took a couple days off from work and school to spend some extra time with Nanna and Grandpa and to continue another Sakraida family tradition: making a mountain of Christmas cookies.
This year's cookie menu included Peanut Butter Reindeer, Chocolate- and Candy-covered Pretzels, Sugar Cookies, Gingerbread, White & Dark Chocolate Chip cookies, and Loaded Oatmeal cookies.
On Tuesday, Ariella, Nanna, Grandpa and the girls took a roadtrip to the Adventure Aquarium to see Scuba Santa. Morgan has been watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer a lot, but still wanted Nanna to be her wingman before she approached the Bumble decoration for the first time.
You'll be seeing more pictures of the girls posing on the Aquarium turtle for another year. That's because, for the second year, Nanna and Grandpa's Christmas gift for Ariella and Andy was to renew our membership to the aquarium.
That, as they say, is a gift that keeps on giving.
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