a peek inside the fishbowl

This is a bit late in the game, I know, but for personal scrapbooky reasons I do like to write about our yearly Christmas adventures.

This year, more than ever, we decided to pare it down. Looking ahead to our renovation we realized we needed (a) to save some money and (b) bring fewer things into the house. And I think we did ok on both counts.

Which brings us to Christmas morning.

Amazingly, the girls were paying attention when I (half-jokingly) asked them to not wake us before 7:00 a.m.

Here they are, waiting for us to get up, at 7:02 a.m.:

Our routine always goes like this:

1) Kids get up first, and wake us up.
2) They wait until we’re ready to go downstairs. (This takes a very LONG two or three minutes.)
3) Stockings are opened.
4) Mark and I make coffee.
5) Gift opening commences.

I didn’t get a good shot of the stockings, but they were full of great stuff. (I think they are my favourite part of Christmas morning.) The girls got nesting dolls, windup toys, gum, tic-tacs and other candy, nail polish and nail stickers, lip gloss and bubble bath, earrings (Emma) and a bracelet (Sarah), comic books and magazines, plush Angry birds, gift cards (Sarah got one for Naked Fish Sushi), and Lego figurines. Mark and I only exchanged stockings. I got wool socks, a hat:

… chocolate, a milk frother, and a case for my iPhone. Mark got some magazines, a tiny Meccano set, a scarf, smart-phone gloves, a book, and lots of chocolate and candy.

The girls made our gift this year. It’s made out of white chocolate and red icing. :)

Sarah bought Emma some Playmobil, and Emma bought Sarah a pretty scarf… and she hasn’t taken it off since:

We bought Sarah a fun ear warmer. It still cracks me up:

… and a Perplexus, which is driving me crazy:

Emma finally got a lava lamp:

… and a board game (Cranium, and it’s VERY fun):

What else? Pjs, Wii games, hats and slippers, and books. Even Piper got something. I think she’s proud of her new collar:

After Part One was over we hustled over to Mark’s parents for breakfast:

And then, with coffees in hand, we settled under the tree for more unwrapping. Mark’s parents bought each girl an iPod touch (!). Here they are at the moment of recognition:

Lucky girls eh? There were other things too: games, canvasses and paints, crafty stuff, more books, and fuzzy blankets… oh, I’ve lost track already.

We sat around, played with our toys and snacked until it was time for dinner. The dogs happily fought over huge candy cane-shaped rawhides and played in the snow:

Soon it was turkey time:

And later we waddled home with full tummies and an equally full trunk. What a joyous Christmas. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas too!