Christmas at the Condo

We made special arrangements with the North Pole this year after Josie informed us that Santa should just wait outside and let Rudolph bring her presents. We figured since Rudolph was already taking custom orders that we'd go ahead and have him split Josie's Christmas deliveries into two shipments as well. So, on Christmas Eve Rudolph brought Josie's first wave of gifts to our condo and he delivered the others to her grandparents' house on Christmas morning. That's right - two Christmas mornings! What could be better?

We were so excited to give Josephine her first experience making holiday memories in her own home and started some new traditions that we hope to continue for years to come.  On our Christmas Eve, we made reindeer food for Santa's team so they could find our condo in the city. Josie had a blast mixing the oats and glitter, and we all giggled as Josie dumped the whole thing on the sidewalk outside!

 

Following Josie's lead, we decided to leave a snack for Rudolph instead of cookies & milk for Santa. Josie wanted to leave him glittery shredded wheats, sparkly oats, and macaroni & cheese. We also wrote a letter to Rudolph, who was happy enough to leave a letter back to Josie. And one of my favorite stories from this season is that Josie asked if she could leave out her high heels on Rudolph's table so that he could try them on when he was in our house.

 Here's the letter Josie dictated to me as I wrote to Rudolph.

We'll just call the rest of these "scenes from Christmas morning" because they kind of speak for themselves. Enjoy!

(That fourth stocking was for Carissa, don't get any ideas - we're not pregnant - although we certainly hope to have better luck accomplishing that feat in 2010 than we did in 2009.)

 

 

If these next two tell you anything - this is the sun rising as Josie was unwrapping presents - and what a spectacular sunrise it was!

 

 

 

 

Despite lots of excitement about her new kitchen, doll, books, horse stable, bubble-bugs, and a whole bunch of other goodies - the biggest smile we got all morning was over this huge bowl of blueberries. Which is just so Josie! Wow, we love this little girl!

  

Really, I think the best part of Christmas this year was seeing it all again through Josie's eyes - running down the hallway to see what Rudolph had put under the tree just before daybreak, watching her rip through the presents and excitedly exploring each one, saying "thank you" to us and to Rudolph as she opened her gifts, the random "Yay" and clapping as she bounced around the condo on the morning of Christmas Eve, way too many gumdrops and candy canes, her little voice singing "Rudolph" for the 100th time and almost making all the way through "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas", Josie telling complete strangers about her big Christmas tree that we decorated together over the course of a week, and all the other seemingly insignificant moments that all came together to make this Christmas one of the most memorable weeks of our lives.  I'm already looking forward to next year!

Final Countdown to Christmas

Here are a few random holiday photos before I get into "the meat" of our Christmas celebrations!

The weekend before Christmas, Josie's cousins Morgan & Katrina came down for some holiday fun and a walk down the street to the Duke Energy train display. Josie has so much fun with her older cousins - as you can see in these pictures.

 

An instant classic!

Another day...another train display...another outfit that includes a tutu. (She loves her tutu, and as we see it, there's no harm in letting her wear it whenever she feels like it. Let's be honest, if I could get away with wearing fairy-ballerina clothes out of the house, I probably would.)

I'll make a very long story as short as I can when I say that we wanted to make a gingerbread house and had to do it from scratch because all the kits were processed with peanuts. It was definitely a bit of a disaster that started with some way-too-sticky dough, proceeded to "oh no open the windows, it's on fire", and ended with a gingerbread house that we feared couldn't be saved. Alas, we pressed on & ended up with something that Josie deemed worthy of Rudolph's table (more on that later).   This first photo is a bit like a crime-scene to anyone who witnessed the gingerbread debacle.

The final product - which caused Josie to sustain a head injury after bonking her brow into a rock-hard piece of gingerbread while trying to suck a gumdrop off of the gingerhouse 'lawn'.

 

Oh the memories...

Sisis Christmas

Josie loves her "Sisis" like family (and so do we), so it was only fitting that we would have our own Christmas morning with Carissa before she left to go home to New York for the holidays. Here is Josie with her new princess jacket from Lisa & Bill (Carissa's parents) that she adores! Big thanks to Lisa & Bill for being so thoughtful & so sweet!! 

I love these 'action shots' of Josie with her new soccer ball from Carissa. We'll add private soccer coach to Carissa's list of talents & maybe Josie will follow her footsteps and play XU soccer one day. (This ball is certainly Musketeer-blue!)

 

 

 

Here is Josie admiring her Pandora necklace to match the bracelet that Carissa got her for her birthday. They are both so special & Josie is one very lucky (and stylin') little girl!

 

This is Josie with her new super-fabulous Disney princess art set which has already inspired many hours of princess fun!

I love these of Carissa admiring the handmade frame that Josie made her. The reaction to Josie's hardwork really made Josie feel so proud! And we accomplished our goal of teaching Josie that Christmas is about giving and not just getting. 

 

 

This last one really says it all - how much Josie loves Carissa, how much Carissa loves Josie, and how fortunate & grateful we are to have such a wonderful influence on our daughter!

Thanks for everything Carissa! We love ya!

Quick Quote

Josie, singing to herself: "I love you, I love you, I love you soooo much..."

Me: "I love YOU so much Josie."

Josie: "No mom, I was talking to my Rody."

(Note: Rody was her favorite Christmas gift this year, Rudolph brought it to her after she talked about it for weeks after visiting her buddy Ronan in Madison earlier this fall. If there's any doubt how much she loves him, check out this photo of her sleeping on her way back to Cincinnati from Xenia after the Christmas festivities ended - literally cuddling this giant plastic bouncy horse for over an hour!)