Christmas in Dixie, Part Deux

Pictures, pictures and more pictures. I always said I wish we could have Christmas year-round. Now I am fulfilling my own wish and bringing you Christmas in May.

Mom, thank you for instilling such a strong sense of tradition. It is something I hope to pass on to my daughter. My best memories of my childhood involve these traditions, including the annual making of the gingerbread trains (and, much to my childlike dismay, giving them away). Lily and her cousins had a blast passing on the tradition (and I gained a new respect for your dedication...it took me two days to bake and put the dratted things together).

A tradition my parents never adopted, was opening a gift on Christmas Eve. Present-opening was strictly for Christmas morning. I remember feeling ths was the height of unfair-ness when all my friends got to pick a present to unwrap Christmas Eve. This year, in hopes of not passing on the unfortunate scars of this childhood trauma, Lily got to pick one gift before bed.

Then she and her cousins got a very exciting call from he big man in red himself, who was, according to NASA's Santa tracker, flying over Germany at the time.

Using a little Christmas magic and a sprinkle of pixie dust, he appeared on our front porch not ten minutes later to say goodnight.

Lily was soooooo excited for Santa to come. So excited, in fact, that she did not fall asleep until around 1:00 a.m. (after no nap and being put to bed at 7:30). Everytime I went in to check on her she would pop up in bed and say "Santa's here?" Even my claims that he couldn't come until she was sleeping didn't help. She just was too excited to accomodate us.

At 6:00 a.m., Lily woke excitedly (or rather, her mommy woke her up and told her Santa came...what can I say, I'm a big kid), ready to see the goodies that were left while she slept.

And she made out like a bandit, with baby dolls, a stroller, crib, playpen, swing, high chair and all sorts of accessories to care for her many, many baby dolls.

And she got to experience it all with her beloved cousins. As she is and likely will remain an only child, I told her that she better enjoy it while she could.

Did I mention the super-cool jeep Santa left her? That Santa was feeling really generous this year.

I am certain there were adorable little anectdotes I've forgotten in the five months since the holidays, but now I feel much better being updated. Stay tuned for more recent events with my next post...