Christmas Morning

Christmas morning we continued the tradition of having Popo and Grammy over in the morning for present opening and brunch. This year Santa was very generous to a couple of very excited little girls. Last year we added the tradition of having an Elf on the Shelf. Our Elf's name is Polo (thank you Cristina for remembering his name). Polo reports to Santa on whether you have been bad or good. This new tradition may be too much for the girls. One night I was reading to the girls and Bella was turning the pages, and she accidentally tore one of the pages (destruction of books is a big no-no). So Becca told Bella, "Uh oh. Polo is watching." Bella immediately began to cry uncontrollably. Thankfully it looks like all reports to Santa were good. The girls were really excited about the pillow pets that Popo and Grammy gave them. Apparently they are all the rage with little kids and big kids alike. Also new this year were the specific requests for particular toys. Thanks to Nick Jr., which does not have commercials, the girls had not really ever seem commercials, and boo to The Hub - which does show commercials. Thus the random request for Penbo - a talking pink penguin. You will see he made it into Santa's sack. However, the enthusiasm for Penbo far exceeded his actual fun factor, as he has seen little playing time (I know this because I am writing this in September).

Christmas Programs

This year Bella was old enough to participate in the Christmas programs at church and school. I was someone embarrassed by Bella's performance during the church program. They performed Jingle Bells - no problem. But as the program continued, Bella got more and more fidgety and by the end the Music Minster had to stand beside her. My embarrassment didn't come as she flashed everyone...over and over... no my embarrassment came when she refused to listen to the Music Minster. So when it came to the Christmas program as school I had little hope. But we had a big talk about keeping the dress down and about listening to what her teachers told her. I think it worked because the school program was really cute. They sang several songs - complete with hand motions and had a little party afterwards. Even Popo was able to make it. I was really impressed that the teachers were able to get that many children singing and doing the same thing at the same time. And the best part - there was no flashing - at least not by Bella.