So, I know it's a little late, but I've been a bit busy...so, I'm doing a Christmas post now. :) I'll try to be brief, but we all know that's not likely. ;)
So, this year was the first year that Ava really was able to understand all the Christmas stuff. At first, we weren't sure if she'd be a believer because she's so dang logical, and everything has to make sense. For instance, we did the Elf on the Shelf this year, and when I told her that he comes alive and gets into mischief while she's sleeping, she said, "He can't walk, Mommy, his feet are too small!" And when we went to pick out a tree from Hunter's Christmas Tree Farm (where they had a nice looking Santa), she just stared at him and said, "That's not the real Santa." She's THREE people!!! So, of course, I said- "You're right, that's not the real Santa. That's one of his helpers. He has a lot of helpers. We're gonna see the real Santa at the Santa party next week." Geez.
So, anyway, a friend hired a Santa to go to her house and had a party. Santa did the sit-on-his-lap-and-tell-him-what-you-want thing, he read a book to them, and them gave all the kids a special gift (thanks Bobbi!). Anyway, of course, Ava was NOT about to go sit on his lap, but Bella was too young to care. So, here's Bella with Santa.
And this was the beginning of the rather long attempt to get Ava to get even remotely close to Santa.
More trying...
And more trying...
It was a no-go. But after he read everyone a story, he called each child by name and gave them a gift. Ava had the biggest smile on her face when he called her name and was so in awe of the fact that he brought her something. We opened the present and I told her that she should go tell Santa thank you for the gift...which she did.
After that, she was willing to talk to Santa and tell him what she wanted- "a microphone, a red umbrella, a picture of me and Mommy, and a picture of me holding Bella." Quite reasonable, I think! Oh yeah, then she asked him a question. "What color PJ's to you wear?" HA!
"Red, of course!," he said. :) Which was great for Ava since red is her favorite color- you know, cause she has red hair. :)
So, finally, a picture of Ava with Santa! Couldn't get her on his lap, though. Baby steps.
Ava also had a holiday celebration at school which I was able to attend (usually I can't attend these things cause I'm working and don't know far enough in advance to change my schedule). But, since I was still on maternity leave I was able to go. Here's a pic of Ava and a few friends all reading. Notice Ava holding the book like the teacher does. She does this at home now when she reads to Bella. :) Cute. 
Funny story: I was dropping Ava off at school one morning and she came in on a conversation with one of her friends from school who said, "I don't celebrate Christmas,"
Ava's response: "You have to celebrate Christmas because it's Jesus' birthday and you have to have a party." Hahaha. Her friend just stood there not really knowing how to respond to that. Of course, I quickly explained that some people don't celebrate Christmas, blah blah blah. Funny, though. :)
We got to spend Christmas Eve dinner with Patrick's family and Christmas dinner with mine. Here's a picture of us on Chrismas Eve!!
Christmas morning was really fun. Bella woke up before Ava, so I had a chance to feed her then get downstairs to turn the lights on and make everything look pretty. Patrick started a fire. It was so nice. It's the first time we've ever woken up on Christmas morning in our own house....EVER! We have never done that! For the past 13 years, we've always been visiting back home from school (college, dental school, or residency)! So, it was just lovely to walk downstairs and do Christmas in our own home with our family! Here's the tree before anyone else was awake!
Crumbs from Santa, the empty reindeer food bag (which was sprinkled on the front lawn), and a little Christmas note for Ave, also from Santa. :)
Here's Ava with her new pink umbrella. If you remember, I mentioned before that she told Santa she wanted a RED umbrella. Well, her previous umbrella was pink, and it broke. So, we assumed he wanted another pink one. So, I found one, ordered it, and had it sent. Then a few days later, she was talking about her Christmas list and Patrick mentioned the umbrella could be pink. "No, red!"
Crap.
So, we tried to really hype up the pink idea, but she wasn't havin' it. So, ultimately, she got a pink umbrella with a special note from Santa that explained that they were out of the red color and had to make a pink one instead. She was good with that. :)
These next couple pictures are really sweet. She asked for a picture of her holding Bella. She opened this and just smiled so sweetly. 
She looked at it for a long time. 
Then she decided she wanted to put it up right away with the rest of the pictures. :) It was very sweet. She also asked Santa for a picture of her and me, but after she opened the one with her and Bella, she said, "I guess Santa didn't bring me a picture of me and you, Mommy." We had to tell her she needed to wait and see cause she had lots of presents left to open. Very cute. :)
She had such a good time opening her presents and she was very sweet about it. She didn't rush through and throw the gift aside and move on to the next. She was excited about (almost) all of them, genuinely.
We heard it was maybe gonna snow/flurry on Christmas, but you know how that goes. A few flurries and that's it. But it started to snow FOR REAL when we were opening presents and didn't stop all day!! It was kinda awesome!
This is what it looked like Christmas night looking out from our front porch. So pretty!!
Poor Ava. We were not prepared for weather like this! She doesn't really have a big winter coat. She's got a hat and mittens, but she left one of the mittens at school, so we had to get her old mitten from last year. Of course, NONE of these things were water proof, so after about 10 minuets of playing in the snow, her hands were soaked and FREEZING!! This is our attempt at keeping her warm. Not very impressive!
Daddy and Ava walking back in after she could no longer feel her fingers!
Here's Catcher enjoying the snow too! :) He's such an old man!
On another note, I returned to work on December 22nd. So, I am officially done with maternity leave. :( It's been ok so far, but the days are very long away from baby. I see Ava more cause I take her to school and she's older, so it's different. But I leave Bella at 7am and sometimes don't see her again until almost 7 at night. But, it's ok. I'm just glad it's only 3 days a week.
So, anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas this year! We hope you did too!!
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