Christmas Day

At our house the stockings are laid on the sofa with care. In hopes that 3 ladies set out the presents Santa brought.

Ally needed some help from Aunt Beth to open up the largest present ever!

A giant fur bean bag! I love the smile on her face above. Ally then proceeded to sit in the bean bag for the rest of the morning to open gifts. 

eating chocolate and showing off her candy cane putty

Cloey always gets a treat too.

Dave and Debbie

Cloey & Ally

Beth & Ally got winter stocking caps with fur pom poms.

Cloey and Dave

The beautiful and happy 12 year old. The only thing she asked for was some wireless ear buds.
When pressed she said "stuff" she does like to open trinkets. Ally was as usual blessed with lots of stuff:
Athleta Gift Card - thank you Gruncle & Suzie
Athleta sweatshirt, a set of books for her age, Jenga and other fun things from Dave and Debbie
Pillows for her hangout room handmade by Aunt Beth
A lap desk and money from Great Aunt Martha & Uncle Phil
Ear buds, some clothes, the bean bag and a picture for her room from Mommy and Mama

Ally gave some great gifts this year as well. We made a photo book mark for Grandma Debbie, Poppy and Aunt Beth - and Ally selected a book she had read that she thought might be of interest to each person. Then she agreed to talk with them each about the book.
Dave received the 2 book collection of The War that Saved My Life - he has now read them both and we are working on scheduling a video chat for Ally and him.
Debbie received The Hate You Give - Ally read that this Fall. It is also a movie and we hope to watch it with Grandma Debbie when we see her next.
Beth received Life is Short, Don't Wait to Dance, by Valerie Kondos Field the coach of UCLA gymnastics. Ally wants to read this too - so after Beth is finished with it Ally will read it and they will schedule a lunch date to chat.

Ally as usual really wanted to give gifts she made. She had no time to actually make gifts this year and  I was glad we were able to come up with gifts that I think are just as nice as homemade ones - books and conversation with her grandparents and Aunt Beth. They are all 3 readers and I hope they enjoy reading these books that Ally has read, and learning a bit about Ally's interests in the process.

Opening up the amazing velvet pillows that Aunt Beth made for the 3rd floor hang out room.

After the gifts were opened Ally had to get her gifts upstairs to her room. I loved how Cloey was trying to sneak up under the bean bag. I was a little worried Cloey would get smushed. But she didn't. She curled right up in the middle of it. Ally tried on her new team gymnastics athletic slides. They even have her name on them!

 

Portrait of a tween.

Opening up Day 25 on her Advent calendar. Ally was not as into it this year, and we agreed next year we will do something different to count down the days to Christmas.

Becky and I made Christmas dinner - roast turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots. Yummy.

I think Ally ate a half can of cranberry sauce! She did eat a lot of turkey and some carrot sticks as well.

Lounging with her kitten in her new bean bag.

I snapped up these two pictures of my family when I went to bed. Christmas is fun, but exhausting.