We’ve been reading Clement Moore’s, ‘Twas the night before Christmas, as illustrated by Tomie dePaola, and Olive, the other reindeer, for about ten days. We also watched “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer” a couple of times.
We never said that Santa would come here. But we did point out that Tuesday night *really was* the night before Christmas.
Regardless, the girls made some connection. When they woke Wednesday morning, instead of agreeing to go to the potty, Cate said she wanted “to go out front.”
Once we insisted, both girls pottied promptly (which isn’t always the case) and when we opened the bedroom door, they went straight to the living room. On the coffee table, next to our little balsam fir tree, they were delighted to find a pair of plush baby elephants from the Zoo, and 8-10 new “brick” (Duplo) people.
[All of the brick people that have come with their sets are male, which is limiting. So we sucked it up and paid for an all-people-all-the-time 20-piece set, that included 7 female figures. That’s still a dismal gender ratio, but we’ll make do.]
We also opened stockings, which held chocolate “Crisp Kringle”s, chocolate coins, mandarins, and tiny peppermint canes.
After a few pieces of chocolate, some quick frozen waffles and chicken maple sausage for the girls, and coffee for us grown ups, we pottied again. We swapped jammies for red snowmen dresses and set forth to Conroe.
Bill’s niece, Charlotte, and her new husband, Steve, drove in from Virginia for the holiday. Sam and Cate enjoyed meeting and playing with their daughter, Justice, who’s just 5 months younger.
After opening and sharing presents, the three toddler girls ran around on the golf course, while cousin Sarah, Bill, and I tagged along. Sam then asked Gram Nancy to take them riding in her golf cart again, please, and Cate insisted that the go all the way to Gran’s playground. Much swinging and climbing ensued.
[photos to follow]
Back at the house, two overtired girls convinced me that they wanted to stay and nap at Gram’s, instead of driving home. However, after half an hour of lying on the mattress, the floor, a pillow, a big kid bed, the mattress again, (lather, rinse, repeat), I decided that we should bail and take them home. I was sad to miss dinner with the Odales, but two unslept toddlers were likely to make things tough all around.
Forty-five minutes later, I woke to find us somewhere along IH-610, with Dad at the wheel, in the midst of a fine circuitous rolling nap operation. Girls slept another 45 minutes and were chipper by the time we got home.
Once home, Cate and Sam fell immediately into playing with their new toys. They sat at the little table (thanks, Gram!), and played with their new people, both Duplo and Fisher Price. Here’s some video to capture that interaction:
