Christmas morning

We had a lovely Christmas morning, with the girls appearing in our bedroom promptly before 7 a.m. raring to go into the living room and see whether Santa arrived. While I dragged myself out of bed and made myself presentable, Bryan playfully teased the girls, until all of them were a noisy laughing group. He finally allowed them to check their stockings by the fireplace, then teased them again not allowing them into the living room with the Christmas tree.

You'll be thankful that I didn't upload the home movie he took of the girls seeing their Santa presents for the first time. That little squeal that used to be so cute when they were younger has turned into a full-fledged scream AAAAiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee with lots of jumping up and down. (Honestly, I'm not so sure why they're so overwhelmingly surprised - they have always received exactly what they asked for from Santa Clause. We do quite a bit of guiding/vetting before they visit him at the mall.)

Cameron received the bow & arrow set and a target. She became interested in archery when we visited the Renaissance Festival in November.

Brenna asked Santa for an Our Generation Doll named Jennie. The doll's full name is now Geneveieve Marie and Brenna seems perfectly happy even though it is not an American Girl doll. I wish they'd had Our Generation dolls available last year.

It wouldn't be Christmas in our house if the girls didn't receive a lot of BOOKS. One of Brenna's books this year was "How to be a Princess" that included lift-flaps, small letters and notes that you pull from attached envelopes, and had many tips. As you compare the next two photos, can you tell what princess attribute they are reading about?

If you guessed "Posture" then you are exactly right!

Brenna's last present was actually the first one I purchased this Christmas season. She began asking for a Snuggie after seeing the very first commercial and did not stop until she opened the present. It's an adult "one-size fits-all" but she loves it.

After breakfast, before we packed the car to head to Brad & Amanda's home in McKinney, Cameron & Bryan spent a little time in the backyard practicing with her new bow & arrow set. She loves it.