White Christmas in Raleigh

Oh yea - not just snowflakes, but real snow, like inches and inches! :-)

This year Christmas with Ade was even more fun. We have been talking for almost two months now about Santa, and Ade has been focusing on being good to stay on the nice list. She has been asking for a Stuffed Ponyo. I discovered a very cool site that allowed me to request video messages from Santa for Ade, which she adored. Her picture was even in his big book! :-)

Also, she bought presents to give to me, daddy, and the doggies. Weeks ago she selected some Grinch boxers for Ryan. The best part of it was that it was all her idea while we were shopping that she randomly decided to get him something for Christmas. Turns out she picked a hairbrush and some candy for me. :-) The dogs got a pink and orange chicken. She helped me wrap gifts Christmas Eve. Ade opened her present from Aunt Micki and Uncle Jimmy which arrived that day - the interactive Lotso from Toy Story 3 that I had told her was too expensive when she wanted it at Target a few weeks ago. She was thrilled beyond words. She hugged him and talked to him. After he said his name was Lotso she said, "My name is Adelaide" then she carried him away and I could hear her saying, "Lotso, we have a Christmas tree" as she took him on a little tour, carrying on a whole conversation.

Jenna, Jon, and Vivian came over for Christmas Eve dinner, then we opened gifts. We put out the cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer, and Ade went to bed. Ryan and I enjoyed a nice evening movie together. At yellow light, Ade was ready to check out if Santa came! Indeed, Lotso had enjoyed the cookies with him, as he even had some crumbs on his pink fur! Santa left a message on the chalk board for her too, which kind of blew her mind. There was a mountain of presented under the tree. According to Ade, "I must have been a very good girl!" She was thrilled to see so many things that Santa had noticed she liked magically appear - he really was paying attention. She was most thrilled with her unicorn pillow and of course her Ponyo. We enjoyed our unwrapping session with the fireplace ablaze, carols playing, and coffee/hot chocolate to sip.

We spent the WHOLE day in our PJs playing. After her rest, we discussed with her how lucky we are to have so many great things in our life. We wanted her to understand that others don't have as much as we do. So we gave her one last present - the friendship of a little girl in India named Ashiya that we sponsored. I was able to find a little girl who has the same birthday as Ade! We explained how we could write her letters, and I read Adelaide the information about her. It said how she liked playing with dolls, and she said, "Well she can have one of mine!" I started crying. She was also amazed that they have dirt floors, and when she drew her a picture and gave her some stickers a bit later, she kept asking about the dirt floor. Ade kept asking me to write to ask if she could come over to our house to visit. It started snowing in the evening, and when we woke up this morning we had around 5 inches.

We all went outside to play. Ade wanted to make snowangels, laying on the kitchen floor to show me how, but once out in the cold snow she refused to lay the whole way down to make one. We built a small snowman and played with the dogs.

Due to the holiday and the snow, we haven't left the house since we got home from Pgh on Thursday afternoon. While I have enjoyed being a lazy bum, I am starting to get a little stir crazy.

Tomorrow one of the girls from our neighborhood is coming over to babysit for a few hours while Ry and I get some work done. We haven't had anyone but family watch Ade before, so this will be interesting. We will be home of course, but I do think she is getting old enough that we could have a sitter and I would feel comfortable.

Since we changed Ade's school after we made our Christmas plans, we find ourselves home until Jan. 4 with no child care. It will have been 2 full weeks when Ade goes back to school - the longest she has ever been home fulltime since she was 6months old! I am starting to understand all those parents who are always dying for back to school after winter and summer breaks! ;-)

Happy holidays!!!