Let Christmas begin!

I am awfully behind on blogging due to all the celebrations of Christmas we have been having! It would just get way too long if I tried to write about all of them at once, so I'll start with Christmas at Nana's.
Monday morning we opened presents with my mom, my stepdad Les, my brothers Matt and Luke, and Les' son Quentin. When Abbey woke up and we told her it was Christmas and Santa had been here, I'm not sure she new exactly what we meant. She was acting shy when we first showed her the tree and stockings on the hearth, but she gladly got her wagon and hauled in the presents! Both girls got blocks (Mega Bloks for Abbey, squeaky, rubbery, chewy ones for Elliott), books and more. One of Abbey's favorite presents was a monkey nose, ears and tail set she made Daddy and Nana wear the rest of the morning. (Apparently Santa also shops at the Daiso.) After presents we all ate too much bacon, pumpkin bread, hot curried fruit, and Christmas candy. Yummy! The rest of the day was spent playing with toys and watching my favorite Christmas movie- can you guess what it is? Miracle on 34th Street? It's a Wonderful Life? Elf? No! (Though I do love Elf also.) It's Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special! I am totally serious. My brothers and I grew up watching Pee-Wee and our parents also found him hilarious. I don't remember when we started watching the Christmas special, but we are pretty sure it was before our dad died in 1997, so it's special that we still watch it together. All in all a great start to Christmas, here's some pictures. (Click to see them larger.)

Two elves ready for some presents.

Chad models Abbey's monkey costume as well as the hat she picked out for him. I think it makes him look like an extra from Planet of the Apes.

Abbey chose a book for Elliott and helped make the gift tag too! So sweet!

Elliott's first maracas of her very own.

Abbey and Chad go on an adventure to Madagascar (wearing Abbey's new dress up hats). This is what Christmas candy before breakfast does to a 3 year old.