Christmas Day

Christmas was a success, for sure.  The girls both loved their gifts from Santa and were spoiled silly  by the rest of the family.

Natalie got sufficiently "Barbied", against my better judgement, and is in pure Barbie bliss 2 days later. 

Audrey finally got her very own baby doll. Well, she's actually collected quite a few baby dolls of her own in the past year and a half but all she really every wants is Natalie's baby doll.  So, that smart Santa left her a baby doll that looks just like Natalie's except with green eyes instead of blue.  However, this picture below represents the only three and a half minutes Audrey has played with her baby-doll-that-looks-just-like-Natalie's since waking up to it under the tree on Christmas morning.   She still just prefers Natalie's doll while hers sits untouched, un-cuddled and unloved.  Oh, brother!  Or should I say, oh, little sister!!!

Lovely Christmas faces.

Aunt Kristen gave Audrey a tutu of her VERY OWN and it is soooo cute.  I'm a little afraid the" tutu of her own" will be as well received as the "doll of her own" but dress-up time will tell.

Natalie's gift from us was Corey's week long labor of love.  He fixed up his (and Amber's and Kristen's) childhood desk for her and it is AWESOME.  She loves it and it looks so great in the house.  He did a great job turning a rusty old desk into a real treasure.  And he did the same for Audrey but with a Schwinn roadster tricycle that he found abandoned and left for the trash truck in our back alley.  I didn't get a picture of it Christmas day but I'll post one soon.  It was a mess when he found it but with a lot of elbow grease, steel wool, a little wood stain and a new tire, it looks almost brand new.  Wonder if the neighbors who discarded it will recognize it when Audrey rides by!!

This was the happiest Audrey was all day...napping on her momma like a newborn.  I don't know if it was her age or the fact that she's not very into crowds and we had a full house but she was not a fan of Christmas.  She only opened a few of her presents on Christmas day and finally finished unwrapping the rest last night (the 26th!).  I think Hanukkah is more her speed.  One present a night for a week...Audrey would handle that pace a bit better I think.

Aunt Ashley hit the nail on the head for both kids this year. 
Elmo for Audrey and rhinestones for Natalie.  She knows them well.

I'm bummed I look like the walking dead in this otherwise cute Christmas picture.  It's called staying up for Santa until way too late, responding to two needy kids at different times during the night, waking at 6 to an EXTREMELY excited Natalie who had already inventoried everything Santa left under the tree for both her and her sister and not having time to look in a mirror all day long. 

Oh well.  I think it's called Christmas with kids!

We had a very Merry Christmas.  Thanks, Mom, Dad, Ammy, Ashley and Paul for joining us.  Audrey has calmed down now if you'd like to come back!