Christmas time this year has been exciting and challenging. This is the first year that both girls understand who Santa Claus is and what he does and how he relates to Jesus' birthday. It is also the first time they understand that Santa knows when you are good or bad and can have an effect on the amount of presents you receive at Christmas. The Elf on the Shelf landed on our doorstep right after Thanksgiving and I had a difficult time reading the elf's story because the girls were too excited to sit and listen so I had to give them a quick short version. Emily named the elf "Mia and the Castle", which is it's full name. I tried to call the elf Mia and she corrected me saying, "No mom, it's Mia and the Castle." The way it works is the elf comes from the North Pole to watch over the children. Every night the elf magically returns back to the North Pole to report to Santa whether the girls were good or bad. The girls are not supposed to touch the elf because he could lose his magic, but Avery wasn't buying it and touched him whenever she wanted, constantly saying, "See mom, he don't lose his magic." What do I know, right? This year is also the first year that Emily "wrote" Santa a letter telling him what she and Avery wanted for Christmas. On her list was: roller skates, a kitchen, and a doll house.
Santa emailed daddy a video letter and the girls watched as he told them both were on the Nice list. They were very excited and every time they didn't do as I asked I would tell them Santa would take them off the nice list and place them on the bad list. They didn't believe me because Santa had already told them they were on the nice list. Maybe Santa will wait a little longer to place them on any list in the future.
Emily and Avery helped make Jesus' birthday cake as well as the cookies for Santa. I hope we will keep this new tradition every year. We went to Ama and Apa's house for Christmas Eve and went to Christmas mass with the family. They loved all the gifts they received, especially the tricycles. Apa and Ama also gave the girls kites which will be fun to fly come spring time. On Christmas Day the girls woke up pretty cranky until they remembered Santa brought their gifts over night. Emily was really nervous on the days leading up to Christmas because we don't have a chimney. She was afraid Santa wouldn't be able to get into the house. I showed both girls the plate of cookies that we left out for Santa so they could see the evidence that he had a snack but they didn't care, they were too busy wowing over their gifts. They did get their kitchen as asked but were very aware that some of their listed items were not there, particularly the doll house. After opening gifts we went over to Nonna and Papa's house and received many more gifts including Emily's favorite gift from Uncle Garrett, a drum set. We were very blessed this Christmas and thank God for all that we have. Happy Birthday Jesus!
