Santa Detox

(pants courtesy of Flossie :-)

As for the tree, I had big plans to have our front room (seen in pic below) cleared out enough to have a real tree. That isn't even close to happening, so I settled for our emergency back up tree complete with kid friendly ornaments. The kids didn't seem to mind, and I don't have to worry about Abri eating tree needles.



Christmas came a few days early when a box arrived from Grandma & Papa

Merry Day After Christmas!

It's a chilly one up here in the Northeast. The girls and I are still in our pajamas revisiting all the exciting "prizes" that were opened yesterday. We're soon going to head out to Home Depot b/c they have their 18 gallon storage bins on sale today and tomorrow for $10 for 3. For now though, we're waiting for the ice to melt off the windshield. I'm in no hurry.

With just the 4 of us, Christmas was a quiet one this year. This was the first time Lise' really understood Santa's role in the process. As you saw from earlier postings, she didn't want to be in the same room with him, much less speak to him, so we didn't push the Santa side of Christmas. It all changed about a week ago when I took the girls to an indoor play group. It was their Christmas party, and Santa was there to take pictures. I asked Lise' again if she wanted to tell Santa what she wanted to Christmas. Her first response was NO, but as the hour went on and she saw that he wasn't out to get her, she let her guard down. By the end of the event, she had told him that she wanted a dollhouse for Christmas. After that, it was all Santa.

On Christmas Eve, we made cookies for him. Man were they good!!!! Here's the recipe for the Raspberry Cream Sandwich Cookies from Martha Stewart. Nothing for the best for Santa. The next time we make them, I think I'll make them a little smaller. They were just so rich. Even Santa couldn't eat all 3 of his.



With the cookies and milk in place, we all went to bed to wait for his arrival.

The next next morning was fun. The cookies were gone, and low and behold, there was a dollhouse for Lise'. Santa had remembered. Lise' even allowed Abri to play with a few things in the dollhouse. Her favorite thing was to look through the windows to see Lise' on the other side.



Another favorite item of the morning was blocks. It was definitely a block Christmas. I think we got a total of 4 different types. There will be a lot of building going on here. We should be able to turn one of the girls into an architect yet!


After our bellies were filled and all the presents were opened, we decided to hit the road and explore our backyard. It was a pretty day, so we settled on sailing the Staten Island Ferry from Staten Island to Manhatten. It was a chilly one, but fun nonetheless. It was a training run of sorts for when you all come to visit. We searched out the best location to view the Statue of Liberty and not freeze your tush off and learned which ferry to ride for the best sunset shots this time of year. So bring it on!