SANTA!!! I *KNOW* HIM!!!

*****Bonus points to anyone who can name that movie :D*****

On Christmas morning, I woke up bright and early and was just brimming with excitement!  The girlies, of course, slept in :P  WHO SLEEPS IN ON CHRISTMAS MORNING?????  Trying to be patient, Michael and I finished getting everything squared away for our trip (to visit my parents), made some coffee, and prepared the cinnamon rolls for the oven.  It finally became obvious that they would not wake on their own, so we ever so gently woke them with exclamations of the excitement that awaited them in the living room.  Did you know that SANTA came to our HOUSE???  And brought PRESENTS???  I know.  Once Maya realized what was happening, she woke quickly, did her morning thing, and went out to find her stocking.

Now let me stop for a minute here and say that the stockings *might* just be the favorite part of Christmas for both girls.  Charlotte could have been done with the whole shindig after finding her new toothbrush.  As soon as she pulled it out of the stocking she handed it to me and said "help!"  After I explained that she needed to leave it in the box so that she could look at the rest of her gifts, she pretended to brush her teeth with it still in the package.  Silly girl :)  And of all the gifts Maya received, the one she chose to take with her on our trip to Grandma's house was a single "Toy Story" band-aid :P

So as you can see, the stockings were a huge hit.  After that they each opened a few gifts from Mommy and Daddy, and then discovered that Santa had brought them something else!  Maya tried to peek under the blanket, and then Michael removed it (carefully!) and she exclaimed, "A train table!  For me!  And Charlotte!"  So it appears that Santa did a good job :)  By the time we were ready to sit down to breakfast, the dinosaurs had destroyed some of the train track (which really should have been expected ~ I mean, dinosaurs are pretty destructive!), but fortunately it goes right back together!  

Michael is finding that the train table brings out a little bit of OCD in him (maybe now he knows how I feel, just a little bit, about every.single.toy. we have in the house!).  After one day with the it, he wanted to glue the track pieces together, lol :)  Also, the table was a craigslist find, so while it was a steal and is in excellent condition, there are a few minor quirks.  It's been funny to see Michael's engineer brain try to figure out a way to help the engine make it up the hill (which will just not happen).  We almost bought a new engine at Target because the problem became so distressing for him (he even put electrical tape around the wheels to give them more grip :)), but decided that rather than spending as much as we did on the table for a new engine, we'd just put the thing in the drawer!  The girls would rather let the engine drive around on the ground, anyway, so it works out :)

Finally, here are some pictures from our morning!

A gift from preschool!

Oh my goodness!  Just what I always wanted!  Can you tell she's been learning how to act surprised? :)

Dinosaurs, water bottle and band-aids.  All essential accessories for a train table :)

The many "Cheese"s of Charlotte:

My favorite, even though she looks a bit like a gremlin! :)

Night!  Next time, Christmas with Grandma!