Merry Christmas!

This year we made some special arrangements with the big guy in the red suit! Santa came early and today we celebrated Christmas! Lauren, especially, was concerned about trying to keep as many of our Christmas traditions, despite the little trip we are taking on Thursday! I think it felt pretty much like Christmas day around here, except for the fact that Ally had a dentist appt this AM, and we ran several errands to stores that would have otherwise been closed!

FINALLY, I am posting a few pics:

From Ella Kate's Party (pics with Ellie and Katie too)

Ally's pre-school Christmas program (she swung that little pink dress from side to side most of the time, when she wasn't trying to find the jingle bells she dropped)

Frannie came for a visit and the rolling on the big chair ended in a bloody nose for Frannie and some sympathy pains from Ally!

Merry Christmas! My 3 favorite moments were (yes, of course, I have a list):
1. Ally getting a personal phone call from Santa. Her little eyes just lit up and she whispered to me "Mommy, it's Santa!"
2. Mema coming to celebrate and Ally saying "I'm Mema's girl"!
3. Watching Sara and Lauren play with the Wii Sing Disney game - they had so much fun together; and with the Wii Fit, too!

We are packed and as ready (well, almost) as we can be! We will still go to the Christmas Eve service at church on Wed. Thanks to our pastor, Larry, for saying a special prayer for our daughter and our safety this past Sunday!!

Since my sister and brother-in-law will be staying at our house to tend to our "watch dog" (well at least he thinks he's a watch dog!) and the "drooling attack cat", I'm trying to think of a super nice gift to bring them from China! Any ideas???

We are missing both of our "family get-togethers" and I think that is the thing that we will all miss the most! But it's certainly worth the trade-off! This is sinking in ...