So, the guinea pig thing has been going really well. Shockingly, there has been absolutely no smell! The girls adore Cookie and have been taking great care of him. Allyson loves having an animal to torture, er, love.
Cookie taking a ride on Christmas
So, I read that guinea pigs are extremely social creatures and really need to have guinea pig companions. Evidently, our "Cookie" was once named "Robin" as in "Batman and Robin." Batman met an unfortunate demise when his then-owner accidentally left him out in the heat while taking a nap. Robin made it, though. Anyway, the owners planned to get another companion but ended up moving to where they could have no animals.
The dilemma, then. Do we get another?? We decided no for now. Until our friend offered us Monroe, another male guinea pig. Monroe's owner is going off to college and cannot take him with her. So, free is good. My biggest issue? Pink eyes. Ew. He's white with pink eyes. Waaay to rat-like for me. But, we accepted and offered Monroe a new home as Allyson's very own guinea pig.
I wish I had been recording (and thought I was) when Allyson first laid eyes on Monroe. But here is a little video of her shortly afterward. (The girls' friends, Darcy and Holland were visiting.)
She is in love.
Evidently, so is Monroe. But, uh, not with Allyson. Here he is being introduced to Cookie.
We put them in the cage together and things got a little intense/aggressive. So, we followed our friend's advice by putting them in the tub where they'd have more space. You can see they had no problem "using the restroom"in front of one another.
Now, since this is a family blog, I cannot show any further video. Let's just say Cookie's in for a long first night. Our friend, Jamie, believes things will settle down. We are really (really!) hoping she's right. Sigh....
Last year Nicole asked to stay home and have Christmas at her house so that's what we did. Thankfully, my parents were able to be with us. They arrived the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Allyson was most excited, I think, to see Marrie.
That evening we attended a Christmas Eve service at Central Assembly of God (our church doesn't have one). Trying to get a picture of them together almost ruined my Christmas spirit.
After service my parents noticed Allyson singing out of the hymnbook. It was so cute.
When we got home the girls were SO surprised. Santa was in the house!!!
Santa had a very special gift that requires a lot of responsibility.
(The playroom was a mess - it's since gone through stage one of the post-Christmas "purge.")
We also had a gift for Santa. A beautiful musical globe (that the girls had played almost non-stop since we bought it). He liked it very much.
Then he tucked the girls in bed.
And Marrie.
He even posed for a few pictures with the adults.
And showed off his homemade bag from Mrs. Claus.
After Santa left we actually let the girls get up as we had promised them a candlelight service. We had attended one a few nights prior and Nicole wanted to do this. So I saved the candles. Papa read the Christmas story and we had prayers by candlelight. At one point Allyson almost lights herself on fire but, thankfully, it was a near-miss. I know... what was I thinking giving a 4-year-old a lighted candle?
We also sang a couple of carols. Be warned before you hit "play" - these are not available for download on iTunes, even though I know you'll want them so bad.
We had such a wonderful Christmas this year and are so thankful Papa and Grandma Sedenko could share it with us. Still, we were very aware of missing all of our other family in California. We hope the many video clips will make you feel a little as if you were here experiencing it with us. Thank You for all of the wonderful gifts that made our girls - and their parents - smile. You brought them so much joy... as you can see for yourself!
Presents waiting to be opened
Allyson and her doggie - ready for Christmas!
We were so shocked at how the girls allowed us to eat breakfast before opening presents!! I didn't think to take any pictures but I tried something new (normally do overnight French toast) with this Croissant Breakfast Casserole. It was yummy and we were so thankful for patient kids who even let us fill our coffee cups before heading into the living room.
When I was younger, my sister, Holly, started a tradition that we said a prayer before opening stockings. This is Nicole's prayer to start off our morning.
Then it was finally time!
One of the first gifts opened was the Cinderella castle from Papaw and Nana. I wasn't fast enough to catch her before it was unwrapped but she LOVED it!
While the order of these videos may not look like it, we did follow the Davis tradition of taking turns, one present at a time. From the first Christmas I spent as a Davis I loved this way of opening gifts. At my house growing up it was just flying paper and bows and my poor mom probably missed watching us open half of what she had worked so hard to give us. (I only took video of gifts from our out-of-town family and some of the other "big" gifts.)
Next up was Nicole: A science book from the Irwin's was a great surprise.
Followed by a science kit from the Gauthier's ... she's had the pieces everywhere since!
Daddy got a shirt from Papaw and Nana.
A Cinderella carriage just about sent this little girl over the edge. Also from Papaw and Nana. She's still loving and playing with it!
Our old DVD player from Papaw and Nana broke and we will definitely need another for any future airplane trips (and sometimes on long doctor visits, etc.) This was to Allyson and Nicole from Papaw and Nana.
Allyson was pretty happy with another gift from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Angela!
Papa Sedenko bought Allyson this incredible dress ... now Allyson can be Belle! (Fortunately he also got her the DVD.)
You'll see her in this dress from now on. She may get married in this dress one day. :)
Another combined gift was the Polar Express book from Aunt Angela and Uncle Daniel.
Britt's "big"gift was a ROKU box. We haven't had cable for a long time and he's pretty happy watching weird shows on PBS. I usually watch Hulu on the computer while cleaning the kitchen or something. This box allows Britt to watch Hulu (or Netflix, etc.) on the television so he has tons of TV shows and movies to choose from. This was from Papaw and Nana.
Yes, I did get my turn to open, too. But you won't be seeing any videos of it, or pictures for that matter. My no-makeup, pregnant-in-pj's look is strictly off the record. BUT, I was so happy to get my purse from Aunt Dusty. Thank you!
And my Estee Lauder makeup from Papaw and Nana! I was needing this. Papaw and Nana also bought me some Dermalogica skin care which I have been wanting for a looong time! Thank you!!
Not sure if she quite "got" the book from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Angela. But Mommy did and is very grateful. I think it's going to be a fun project for her ... I'm thinking maybe after the baby comes while I'm filling in the baby book or just feeding the baby she can be working on this and feeling a part of it all. Thanks!
Okay, THIS. WAS. BIG. Nicole specifically asked Santa to bring her a stuffed panda. But he didn't need to since Papaw and Nana had already bought one. This is the softest, best stuffed animal ever. She adores it. (She was pretty happy that it came from FAO Schwartz, too.) The day I'm writing this, Nicole had a pajama/show & share day at school. She brought this panda. She has since named it Bambi. But not after the deer. Bamboo.. Bambi... get it?
She also got a panda hat from Papa Sedenko. She wore this just about all day, every day until school started. Although she did wear it to school today, too. With her jammies and a backpack with a panda hanging out of it. LOL
Another special gift was for me from the girls. They went shopping with Daddy and picked out an outfit for their new baby sister. I absolutely love it. What good taste they have!
The final gift of the day was from Santa. Because only Santa's elves could make something like this... it's nothing you can find in stores, let me tell you! Nicole asked Santa for a toy Chinese restaurant named Mrs. Yen's. (Her favorite restaurant in town is Mr. Yens so, I guess, she wanted the female equivalent.)
Santa sent a picture of it during production.
This was the final product.
She was pretty happy!
Pictures from the rest of our day:
Allyson playing with her Cinderella castle and carriage.
Looks like Daddy is getting a little attached to the guinea pig. He's been named Cookie.
Time to watch Beauty and the Beast. Britt has a new couch cuddle buddy.
And Panda girl...
Love the back of the two matching heads!
The guinea pig didn't just get to lie around all day. It was time to get to know these kids.
Via stroller.
No worries. He lived. Although perhaps he wishes he hadn't.
The rest of my day was spent in the kitchen cooking. Our official menu:
Turkey and gravy
Stuffing
Homemade cranberry sauce
Broccoli salad
Wilted Spinach Salad
Rolls
Sparkling Cider
Holiday Gingerbread Pudding Cake
Since our formal dining room is a playroom, we moved the table into the living room so we could eat by the fireplace.
I'm finally sitting down to post the million + pics and videos I have of Christmas. I will try to break it up into a few different posts so no one's eyes glaze over.
Well, as we may have mentioned in about every post..especially ones in the fall... we have a few trees on our property. And more than a few squirrels. This year I think we may "strongly dislike" (trying not the say the "H" world) these little guys more than ever.
We got a head start not the Christmas lights - Britt actually put them up Thanksgiving evening. Poor guy. When there was a strand out, I sent him to Wal Mart ... forgetting that Black Friday started on Thanksgiving this year. When he called me from the produce area to say he was in line I said forget it and he came home!
Still, he got the lights up and they were so beautiful. For about a day. That's when our rodent population decided they like to chew on wires. So, nearly every day, a strand was out. Of course, we couldn't afford to keep replacing them. So Britt figured a way to "fix" them. I'm scared to ask too many questions. He promises we won't have a fire. But, anyway, much of the Christmas season you could find Britt right here... on top of the roof. Probably saying the "H" word. (And possibly some other ones.)
Other pre-holiday activities included plenty of school Christmas parties. I'll post more on those later. But here was a gift I made for Nicole's teacher... an idea from Pinterest. I was happy with it as I don't consider myself a very crafty person.
We also had a very light dusting of snow a few days before Christmas. Allyson got herself all dressed to go out (Nicole was still in school.) She got her jacket, gloves, hat, oh and fancy shoes! Hey, they match her hat and gloves so I was proud. Notice she's still wearing her pi's, too.
It was so cold out there and as I watch out the window, here she is just eating snow and having a great time.
Here's Allyson on another day... just kicking back and enjoying the season.
And Christmas shopping. It's the only time of year we have Sees candy available to us (until this year when we get a store... yeah!). I always make a stop at their booth and get the kids a free sucker. And this is what always happens. No, I didn't have any wipes or napkins with me.
One day the girls got into some cotton balls and decided to make Santa beards.
And this is the Sunday before Christmas... they had a manger scene set up in the atrium.
