Our christmas day finally came!

Yup! A week late! But it did finally come!

My ex didn't even remember to call me and tell me what day Sierra was coming over. Lucky that I don't have much to do huh? She came last night, and we did the whole "Santa" thing. (he comes later if you email him you know ;-)

This morning, functioning on about 2 hours of sleep we all attempted to be awake enough to watch the kids open presents. And what happens, we find out that the battery in the digital camera has died already! Before we'd taken any pictures! So here we are with not a penny to our name basically, and no batteries. Yes I know.. always keep a spare, and we do! Except that last time it ran out, we used the spare. And uh, never replaced it. So at 8am Andrew (my cousin)and my husband had to go out to Wally world to get another battery. We used the Wally world card that my grandfather had just given us for christmas to buy the stinkin thing!

An hour later everyone was back and ready to unwrap. First I had to have my coffee though. And eat something.

Did I mention that all this time Ivy had to stay in the highchair? If I had let her down she would have ripped open every single present under that tree! And yes, I know from recent experience!

Finally. FINALLY! We're ready to open things. With the stockings already done and the toys tossed to the floor, my oldest is waiting to open present after present. The baby is of course waiting patiently in her highchair totally engrossed in a new Teletubbie book that she opened 30 minutes before.

The biggest hit of the day was the walking dog that my oldest wanted, and recieved. I haven't seen her play with it since, but that might have something to do with the fact that it scared the baby right outta her diaper! She backed away, screamed, and cried when that thing started barking and moving towards her in that mechanical stiff movement. I couldn't do anything but laugh. Cruel I know, but it was so funny. She equally "liked" her Dora doll that she opened. That dancing thing starting flapping her arms and banging her head against the side of the box before I could even get it open. I was scared. I was petrified. I can only imagine what my baby was thinking when she took off to run towards me, getting away from that dancing thing. She cried, and screamed, all the while.. slightly swaying to the music almost dancing. Then ubruptly she would scream "No!" and start to shake her head and cry. Dora unfortunatly had to be put in another room because she wouldn't go near it. Score a negative 5 points for grandpa this year!

My oldest also got a cotton candy machine/maker thingy that she wanted. A hair beader which we've both used and we love! Coloring books, Magic Crayola things, hair things, make up stuff, (I did NOT buy that!) Some fuzzy posters. 4 mini skirts. (Why?! What was I thinking??!) She loves those of course, but it seems that I thought she was smaller than she actually is because now I have to return 4 of them for bigger skirts. Oh the joy of after christmas!! I can hardly contain my excitment to stand in lines!

They both got a huge present (that cost a huge penny) it was the last gift they unwrapped. Okay, the baby was still screaming from the Dora incident, so she wasn't unwrapping anything. She was more, clinging to me like a monkey. The girls got a huge playhouse for the living room. The plastic Little Tykes kind. It was really for Ivy, because Sierra got a lot of toys and Ivy didn't get many at all. Also, the playhouse is kind of too young for a 6 year old... but regardless, we put both their names on the box because.. well, its a big item and if they can share more power to them!

Ivy really loves the playhouse! She's been in it all afternoon and night since Andrew and my husband finally got it put together. Well, Andrew didn't do diddly but Chris was inside that house screwing (the screws and plastic together! Geesh, you guys have dirty minds!) and finally it was all put together. Boy didn't that little girl have fun today! I think she deserved it after the disliked presents she got. (I got some great pictures of her screaming though)

So, now its 1am and we are still not in bed yet. Why? Well, the baby was so tired because we didn't get much sleep last night, that by the afternoon she fell asleep. I tried to wake her up after awhile, but she wouldn't have any of it. So she slept, and then woke up. Now she's running around here ripping off her clothes every second she gets, playing with her Teletubbies inside her house...and she's no where near going to sleep! I am so screwed! I'm tired, and I'm grumpy and I want this day to be over! We had a great day, surprisingly. A phone call in the middle of it threatened to ruin the day, but we overcame it. Ended up being a good day.
I put Sierra to bed at 8pm, but for some reason she was still up at 10. I think perhaps she just didn't listen to me. Oh Goddess, I know its going to get harder with her too.

Well, I think I'm going to go make myself a nice cup of tea, light some candles and relax for the few hours that I will be forced to stay awake. :-)

2004 officially was a good christmas. Late.. but good.
Things are looking up after all. Like all things though, they get better and then worse..better and then worse. 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Its a process. I think I've gotten a good start though.