Christmas 2010

After surviving the drive back to Maine, Christmas came pretty quickly. We've been working on building some excitement about Christmas, Santa Claus, etc., with moderate success. Lucy refers to Santa as the Ho-ho, and though I think it's coming, the idea that a stranger is going to show up with some prized on Christmas hasn't yet clicked.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner here in Waterville with my parents, Ryan and Grace, and managed to get to bed before 2am. Luckily, nobody but Grandma and Grandpa are early risers, and around 8:30 am we went down to find the surprises.
Though Grandma had high hopes for the trampoline, it wasn't the hit of the morning. Her favorite was the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and figurines, and she ignored the rest of her presents to play. (Eric actually finished opening her gifts with her on the day after Christmas.)
After the morning whirlwind, we hopped back in the car (total mileage since Ames is around 1950) and headed to Sara and Tim's in Orono for some more family time and an enormous dinner. They put on quite the spread, and it was a full house. Lucy put on a show, no nap and everything, singing and being cute for the family. She had some quality cousin time with Lennon and Jacob, and it was great to see all the wonderful people we've been missing for the past four months.
I'm not sure who had more fun this Christmas: Lucy opening her gifts or Grandma and Mammy buying them for her!