And Then There Were Four: Christmas

The 2 weeks prior to Christmas were quite rough on our family, but Christmas itself was great. Christmas Eve started a little rocky- I woke up with an ear ache and went to see a doctor in the morning. I had an ear infection- crazy! Dan took Ainsley to see Tangled- her first movie in a theater while I was at the doctor. They had a great time together. They shared a snack pack- soda and popcorn. Dan said Ainsley loved the experience and liked the movie too!

We had a fairly quiet afternoon- I was feeling poorly. Ainsley took a long nap and woke up pretty late in the afternoon. We had wanted to go to a family Christmas Eve service but did not make it. We had reuben sandwiches for dinner- a Hadley family tradition. We all enjoyed them. We listened to Christmas music and played together for the evening. We read Ainsley lots of Santa stories and were trying to prepare her for his visit! We left out milk and cookies for him- Ainsley carefully chose which cookies he should have. She was a little hard to get to sleep that night- not too big of a surprise!

We played Santa after she fell asleep and laid out all the presents and toys.

Christmas morning I was shocked to be woken by Dan, not Ainsley. He was the first one up and was so excited he woke me. He turned on all the Christmas lights and got the video camera ready for Ainsley's arrival. She woke a few minutes later and saw her bicycle first thing from the top of the stairs. She was jabbering away as we walked down the stairs together. She was so excited about her bicycle! It is a princess bicycle with a bag on the front, pink tassels, flowers on the wheels, etc. Very girly and cute. There was a matching helmet too.

Trying out the bike was great at first, but then Ainsley decided she didn't like the helmet. Lots of tears, then giggles. Here is her tragic face- see the drying tears? But she looks so pretty....

We lit a fire, put on some Christmas music, and all sat around to open gifts.

Ainsley was satisfied with her bike- she did not care that there were other presents there for her. I kept trying to get her to open them, and she said, "No, I 'm ok." It was a little strange! I gradually guided her through opening some of the gifts, but it took a long time. I ended up opening most of them for her. After opening each new gift, she would play with that one until we stopped her. She liked all her presents and was content with each one- who knew? Good thing I didn't go overboard. Dan and I squeezed opening some of our gifts in there too, but it was hard for me to go slow and wait forever with my gifts. Maybe next year Dan and I will have to open our gifts on Christmas Eve. Ainsley didn't actually make it through all of her gifts on the 25th, we opened some on the 26th.

Ainsley got a new baby with lots of baby accessories- crib, swing, stroller, etc.

New puppy slippers

Doodle board- a favorite!

Ainsley playing with her new Barbie Baby Doctor set

A doctor set

We went to Val and Gordon's for Christmas dinner. We joined other family there and had a great time. We were the last to arrive- we had to wait for Ainsley's nap. More presents were exchanged. Then Ainsley, Eliza and Sam all played with their gifts- arts and crafts. They did great together. We had a wonderful dinner- turkey and all the trimmings, then dessert.