Alison isn't taking any chances! She gives last minute gift ideas to two Santas!!!I am not sure what the look on Izi's face is from, but obviously Santa didn't do something right. Gabi's expression (left) seems to confirm it: "Yeah, Santa screwed up!"
Izi (left) and Alison (below) with their new Bitty Baby dolls.
My very favorite Christmas song is "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". In keeping with the song, we certainly had a merry time on Christmas Eve. All our girls, aged 10 and under, makes for a fun time. We had dolls, doll accessories, doll clothes, beauty shop items and other assorted girlie items, all unwrapped and strewn on the rug within five minutes of blast-off.
I had also wanted a "Mary Wagoner" Christmas as part of our Merry Little Christmas. My dear late mother-in-law orchestrated Christmas Eve like a seasoned conductor. First was dinner, then an organized gift event in the living room. Each person had to guess what was in the gift, then unwrap and display to the rest of those assembled. Afterwards, we all took posed pictures for posterity and Grandpa Junior was in charge of cleaning up the wrappings and boxes to make sure nothing of value was thrown away.
I don't know what went wrong, but my Merry Little Mary Wagoner Christmas turned into a Merry Little Griswald Christmas within two seconds. I lost control (my niece suggested that I never HAD control!) , soon after saying "May I have your attention"...... The littlest of the bunch were ripping the paper, trying to open the boxes, perusing the contents and going to the next gift. It made for mass confusion and lots of fun! After all, anyone can have organization....it takes nerves of steel to let the spirit of Christmas take over and not suggest to a child to WAIT!!! I am sure Mary Wagoner was looking down from Heaven with a big smile! After having had 3 sons, she would have absolutely loved all this girlishness we have in our household!!
On Christmas Day we drove to Kitty and Chris' and enjoyed the evening with them. We had a good meal and a great game of Euchre (although Tom and I were beaten severely!). On Friday, we ventured to the mall to return assorted items of Kitty and Chris'. We were the official "Keep Alison Happy" elves while mom and dad stood in the Returns line and then browsed the markdowns for more good deals! Every year, when the season is over and I am revisiting all the moments of the Holiday, I declare that it has been the best Christmas ever. This year was no exception. It truly was the best Christmas ever and all our Grands are at such a wonderful age! Santa is still very real to them and true magic occurs when you look at the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of a child.
