Christmas Eve was a treat. We ate a ham dinner with Bill, Kristin, and Will at their house. Everything was delicious, and I was especially happy to share some of my own fruit and vegetable bounty from last summer: canned pears in the Jell-O, pickled beets on my salad, broccoli and corn from the freezer. After dinner, we talked about Jesus' birth and sang a few Christmas carols with the kids. Our plans for a live nativity fizzled when I realized I left all the dress up stuff at home. Oh well.
We did get to play "Black Box Audio", though, which was really fun. I just collected a bunch of free sound effects from the internet and put them on an audio CD. I played the sounds one at a time and the others had to guess what each sound was. A few things I learned from the experience: Bill has no idea what a baby sneeze REALLY sounds like, the sound of a burp is especially gross when disembodied, and the sound of an umbrella opening is the most impossible sound to decipher (even when you put the CD together yourself!).
For dessert, I had made some super nutmeggy pumpkin custard (not so delicious) and the Evanses prepared a pumpkin cheesecake (VERY tasty). The Evanses can cook for me any day.
We played more games and ended the evening with the traditional "first gift" opening. Alice was sad to leave, but giggling with joy when she finally saw her bed.
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The next morning, Christmas Day, I ask Bobby to change Alice's diaper while I finish setting up a few things. Alice finally darts into the living room and notices all the new things lying around. She shows them to us one by one, then we hand her a stocking filled with goodies. She pulls out a banana and insists on eating it right then. Bobby and I try to explain that there are OTHER things to explore and open but she wants to eat. Now.
"Beh-fiss. Ni-nuhn. Na-nuh." (translation: I would like to eat breakfast. Please come to the kitchen and open this banana for me.) Breakfast is often the first thing on this girl's agenda.
So, off to the kitchen we go. Yum, yum. Then we head back into the living room where she pulls a couple juice boxes from her stocking. Not entirely sure what they are, she names them "yah-yah" which is Alice's version of "smurf." Digging deeper, she finds a miniature box of Trix. Bobby tells her it's cereal.
"Aa! See-yoh. Eat! Ni-nuhn!" (translation: Wow! Cereal! Let's eat it in the kitchen!) and she runs into the kitchen. She helps Bobby pour the whole box of cereal into her bowl, then she picks up each colored ball and tries to guess the color before popping it into her mouth. The only color Alice REALLY knows is blue. The rest are a little fuzzy. So, we play the colored ball game until Bobby and I can't stand it anymore. We want to open presents!
"Hey Alice, this game is fun, but Daddy and I are ready to open presents in the living room. Come join us when you're ready to open presents, too!"
We get up to leave, she shoves one more handful of Trix into her mouth and mumbles, "Ah done!"
And so the opening begins! Alice makes out with a pretty good haul:
Baby doll accessories (she put these to use right away): bottles with disappearing fluid action, utensils, lidded bowl, little blanket, stroller)
Matching dresses for Alice and her doll (sorry, Grandma Evans, we couldn't get the dress over her baby doll's huge plastic noggin. It's a perfect fit for Raggedy, though!). I love how Alice gets into a silly mood every once in a while. She knows she's being goofy and she laughs at her own silliness. It cracks me up.
Here she is with the whole haul. The wooden rocking chair was a surprise from me to Bobby and Alice (thanks to craigslist and a friend who refinished it for me at HER house so Bobby wouldn't figure it out). It assembles like a puzzle, too, which makes it fun for all ages :) Alice has a pen light in her hand (she digs flashlights), some kiddy flossers, juice (as soon as she realized what it was, she chugged both boxes in sequence with only a few breaths in between), dry cereal, fruit snacks (also gobbled up in record time), a DVD and music CD from Grandma Poulson, some Christmas books (pictured below), and a season pass to the children's museum in town. Yippee!
Alice munched on Trix all morning. We made masks and crowns out of paper plates, watched a movie, ate a snack (she asked for black beans), gave her a bath, quiet time, lunch (spaghetti, olives, green beans, orange, more banana), more baby play, hide-and-seek, reading books, dinner (tortilla, cheese, carrots, a couple tastes of beef, lots of lime Jell-O with pears), and play time with the grandparents via video chat. What a day!
I'm tired. Good night.
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