Friday, December 25, 2015

Christmas 2015

Christmas Day! It was a rough night with the animals in our house. Beth did not want to sleep with Penguin - so the hamster was relocated to the dining room, which made Carl the cat a bit wild and adventurous. Cloey snored louder than Becky, and Nali the cat puked and pooped not in the litter box! This meant that I dint get much sleep, but the rest of the people in our house did, and Grandma and Poppy slept well at the hotel. 


 Christmas morning - the stockings and the tree.


Ally hung out on her top bunk with Beth and Cloey waiting until Grandma and Poppy arrived. 



Ally so excited to go out in to the living room.


Of course Cloey opened her stocking first.



Ally decided she wanted to open her Advent calendar before her stocking or gifts.


$5.00 for the final day!


Soon in relative peace while Cloey was occupied with a chew bone, we started opening stockings.


Christmas really is all about the kids. Ally was great - so into opening gifts, and excited for everything,






Beth


Cloey soon tired of her rawhide and was all over grandma and poppy.  So Becky put Cloey in her crate:


Lots of accessories and lip products this year - Ally got a head band, I got a scarf, I think everyone but Poppy got at least 2 lip balms.




I bid on this wreath at the Festival of Wreaths when we were on Nantucket for Thanksgiving. Ally kept asking if I won, but I kept changing the topic every time she asked. She was thrilled!


Santa did bring Ally a jewelry box, and lots of school supplies and chapsticks.


Ally's final gift was from Mommy and Mama. The gift bag was so big we joked it was big enough for Ally.


So she got in it!



She really is all I need for Christmas.


She was thrilled with some new A.merican G.irl doll things. As soon as gift opening was over she asked Grandma to play with her. They have been in Ally's room for hours!


The other big gift this year was a ring for Becky.  Its hard to photograph jewelry, but I wanted to document it.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Christmas Eve!

Grandma Debbie and Poppy arrived on December 23, and Aunt Beth flew over on the 24th. It was a fun day of games, cookie baking and time together. Ally went to physical therapy in the morning, and we picked up our tamales and side dishes for our traditional Christmas Eve feast.


On December 23 Ally received a Penguin crystal necklace in her Advent Calendar.


On the 24th it was some more Shop.kins and a special bag.


 Its not Christmas with out a game of Rudolphopoly.


Ally loved playing with her hamster Penguin and Cloey in her Santa hat


Ally left her note for Santa and cookies for him and the reindeer.



Our beautiful cookies, and feast!


Debbie brought these really adorable candies for each place. It is 2 chocolates glued down with the Luke 2: Christmas Bible verses on them, to look like an actual Bible. We all read the verses out loud together.

Going to Christmas Eve service – it was 67 degrees outside! We didn’t wear coats!







At church. Such a wonderful time.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Visit with Santa

Ally has grown up so much, but believing in Santa is still such a special thing. And getting her picture taken with him is a tradition every year. This year the mall had pictures with your dog and Santa. We made an appointment - wonderful way to do it - and headed out on Monday night after physical therapy. We even ate pizza for dinner in the car!


 waiting in line for our turn


they had coloring pages which was fun for Ally - not so much for Cloey


Cloey was a good sport all dressed up in her Santa suit.




We are all pretty happy with the formal picture.
Merry Christmas

Rudolph the Muscial

A few weeks ago we went to see Rudolph the Musical at a theater in downtown Boston.


Ally got all dressed up in a sparkly tulle dress and a fuzzy sweater.


Yes that is tinted lip gloss!


Our seats were in the front row of the balcony! Great for viewing - not great for access. I had to carry Ally up most of the steps - the theater is old and historic and does not have an elevator. The usher said we could ask to be seated at ground level as an accommodation due to Ally's boot but we just managed on our own.


It was a really neat show.


Afterwards we went out to lunch and then home to decorate our tree some more.