Christmas 2010

 The plan was to stay home and have a quiet Christmas. We did stay home, but the holiday was anything but quiet! Olivia is not known for being quiet and she's just old enough to have a lot of questions about Santa and presents and Charlotte is a newborn, so no explanation needed there!

On Christmas Eve, Olivia and Howie made a plate of snacks for Santa. They made a pastrami sandwich to go with a big bottle of beer! Howie told Olivia that Santa was probably getting tired of milk and cookies and needed some protein to give him enough strength to fly around the world! I am not sure why he thought Santa should get a beer too? I don't think flying a sleigh under the influence is very safe.

She was very excited to be helping!

Olivia also added a carrot for the reindeer and I added the cookies, just in case Santa hadn't gotten enough sugar already.

Delicious!

Christmas morning before Olivia woke up

Olivia was very excited about her new kitchen!

It has everything she needs, even a phone!

After she played with the kitchen for a few minutes, we opened our stockings. She was very excited for her daddy to open his because she picked out something just for him!

When we were driving to the store to get his gift, I asked Olivia what she wanted to give him. She didn't hesitate at all before she said "A DINOSAUR!" I tried to show her some other items at the store but when she saw this dinosaur from across the room, she knew it was perfect! They named the dinosaur Dina (creative, isn't it?).

Olivia's stocking was stuffed with gifts, including candy, play-dough, a barrel of monkeys, an ornament, and a magnifying glass! 

Next, we moved on to presents. We thought we were having a simple, small Christmas, but somehow Olivia still got TONS of presents!

Aunt Amanda made her a whole bunch of food for her kitchen (we'll have another post to show you how amazing it all is) and Grandma Laurie and Papa Brian got her dishes and a toaster.

At first she wanted to play with everything that she opened, but after a few boxes, she realized that there was more to open. By the time she got to this adorable outfit, she was just opening and throwing the gift behind her to make room for another box!

 After opening gifts and eating Olivia's favorite breakfast (cinnamon rolls) we went to the Fardanesh's house for Christmas dinner. The dinner was delicious and it was wonderful to spend the holiday with such wonderful friends. 

 We had a wonderful weekend and can't wait for next year when there will be 2 excited little girls! A few days after Christmas we were explaining that Santa only comes 1 time each year and he'd be back next year with new toys. Olivia started crying and said that she didn't want him to take all her new stuff away :) We then explained that he just brings toys, he doesn't take them away. Now she asks every day if it is Christmas again!