On The Second Day Of Christmas

Last year we did our family Christmas after all the other Christmases.  We were exhausted.  The girls were exhausted.  This year, Nicole decided we would do our family Christmas on the 23rd.  Haley's advent calender goes all the way to the 25th, but Haley kept saying those last two days don't matter.  She was counting down to the 23rd.  Haley told Cindy that we were opening gifts on the 23rd.  Cindy said I don't think that is right, but whatever.

Nicole prepared a lovely meal.  I made bread (at 3:00 this morning) and desserts.  I made the splurge of the decade and bought pecans for a pecan pie.  And, it was worth every penny of it.  Haley helped me with the pie crust.   Nicole left here at 3:00 so she could get everything ready.

We got to Nicole's before 6:00.  The girls were in their little Christmas dresses.

Nicole had all the presents beautifully arranged under the tree.

After we ate, the opening began.

The room was soon full of paper.

Nicole saved the big present for last.  It was a rocking horse.  If the horse could talk, he could write his own blog.  He was shipped from the factory to Indiana.  From there he rode in the back of an ambulance to Texas.  Then he sat on the Mexican border for several days before making his way across Mexico and Guatemala.  He then sat in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras for a while.  He arrived in Tegucigalpa by bus on Saturday and was safely put into Nicole's hands on Saturday night.  She was sweating this one out, afraid this magnificent present would not arrive.

Haley saw the horse first and jumped on it.

She is four years old and she was tired.  She told us that she would not let Emmy on the horse, not even to take a picture.  Well, she did.

When Haley was playing with something else, Emma Kate played on the horse.  It was a time of introducing herself to the horse.  And she laughed and laughed.

I think this guy is going to be their friend for a long, long time.

Of course, there is always something with some assembly required.

Then it was time for that pecan pie.  A great way to end the evening.

I enjoyed this sweet family time.