There goes Santa Claus!

Can I just say that Christmas is so much more fun with kids around?! If you had asked me last week for my favorite Christmas memory, I probably would have said it was the year I got the "fake" cabbage patch kid because my mom couldn't find a "real" one. I loved that thing just as much as all my friends loved their cabbage patches. My sister and I found them years later, only to realize they looked nothing like a real cabbage patch, and one could even call them "ugly." But I loved it just the same! Or the year my sister and I got a record player and two country records to play on it... do I dare admit John Anderson (just a swingin...) and Sylvia (Your nobody called today...) over and over again.

Ask me this week... and this year would take the cake.

Lainey (4) was soooo into Santa and had been asking for weeks when Christmas would be here. For the first time she actually wanted to sit in his lap and tell him what she wanted (a pony, what else?!). She knew it was on a Tuesday, and each week she would ask me how many more Tuesdays till Christmas was here. Well, it has came and went and she, as far as we could tell, had a ball. Everything leading up to the big day was better than ever as well. Looking at Christmas lights, picking out a church dress, decorating the tree... all so much more special this year thanks to these two sweet girls. Now, Gracie (2) wanted nothing to do with Santa. Lainey tried her best to reassure her that she could sit on his lap and she would be okay. Her exact words were, "Its okay, Gracie, Santa's not scary. He's just old." But Gracie wouldn't budge. Her exact word(s)... "Nope." Okay, no Santa picture this year for her. But next year... it will be my mission...!

Here we are, a week after the holidays, and it still looks like Toys R Us exploded all over my house. I finally got the last of the toys out of the boxes yesterday (who came up with those tie things on the back of every. single. toy.)??? 58 screws and 98 batteries later, and I think everything is put together and doing its job of entertaining the little ones. I vowed with each gift opened (from *3* sets of grandparents) that one would have to lose its place in the toy box (i.e. be put in a box for donation) so that the new toy would fit. I still haven't done it, but it is on my to-do list for the upcoming week. The girls helped me clear out some baby dolls before Christmas to give away... 8 I believe... and they received 4 more to take their places. Shoot! Oh well, still 4 down.

I'm looking forward to putting away the tree next week and starting a new year. Lots of fun, big events in our house in '08. Time is flying...

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well, and I know if you have little ones they were made even better! Here's to many, many more to come!!

Oh yeah, and Lainey DID get her pony this year. A 3-ft tall stuffed pony named Butterscotch. She is in love.