Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Christmas Review and What Comes Next

Hello everyone! I hope that all of you who celebrate had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, and I pray that the coming new year will be a wonderful one. :)

I spent a wonderful week at Mimi's house, as has been our yearly tradition, and just got back home yesterday. Now I'm doing laundry, tidying up, and finding spots for our new Christmas goodies. :)

Alice joined me for Christmas this time around, and as always, was amazed by the huge pile of human presents. ;)

"Wow!"

She tried using her sonic screwdriver to open one, but it didn't work. ;)

"Phooey."

She had a great time reconnecting with her twin sister Piper.

They had a little tree just their size to enjoy in Mimi's room. :)


On Christmas morning, Alice, Piper, and Piper's friend Kailani each opened a gift.

Alice wore her new Christmas pjs. :)


They opened their gifts all together.

Alice got...

...some new Season 4 Shopkins! :)

Piper got...

...a Big Ben ornament.

And Kailani got a cute new pair of shoes.

Alice's two surprise Shopkins.


The girls with their loot.


I don't have too many pics I can share from the human side of things (too many pictures with faces showing), but here are a few that remind me of special moments. :)

A few days before Christmas, the girls had a playdate with some friends from school and made graham cracker gingerbread houses. It was really fun spending some time with the family and watching the girls play together. :)

At Mimi's house, the girls had a wonderful time doing crafts in Mimi's garage. Those stools in the background were one of their presents, handmade by their great uncle. They got to paint them later in the week. It was so much fun seeing each girl's special creativity come out as they painted.

We had a wonderful time visiting together, and exchanged gifts and stockings on Christmas morning.

One of Middle Gal's favorite gifts this year was a camera from her grandma. Oldest Gal got a camera the Christmas she was nine, so this year it was Middle Gal's turn. She's taken somewhere around 400 pictures in less than a week, and is loving it. ;) 

Of course, one of the first things she did after opening it Christmas morning was to go outside and do a dolly photo shoot. ;) She and her sisters each got mini Pullips from me this year (hooray for Tuesday Morning and discounted prices!), so she took her Pullip and her camera and went to work. Several of her pictures were out of focus, but she actually got some pretty nice ones.

All of these were taken by Middle Gal:
Not bad for an almost-ten-year-old. ;)

The girls also got matching dolly and me jammies from Grandma. Little Gal and Kit model theirs here. :) Little Gal was so glad she brought Kit along so they could be twins. :)

I was so proud of Oldest Gal this year. She was an incredible help with her two young cousins. On Christmas Eve, my three girls and my brother's two girls all slept in the same room. Oldest Gal read and sang to everyone and took turns rocking her cousins in the rocking chair. When her youngest cousin had a hard time in the middle of the night, Oldest Gal had already gotten her out of her playpen and was rocking her in the chair by the time the grownups came in. She read to the girls, shared her things with them, and entertained them patiently throughout the week. In this picture, she's letting her youngest cousin color on the back of one of the sheets from Oldest Gal's brand new coloring book. My baby is growing up! :}

And, of course, no Christmas would be complete without Aunt V's gingerbread. ;) As is her yearly tradition, she also helped the girls make their own gingerbread cookies. :)

One of the nights after Christmas, Mimi got out her foot scrub and did foot massages for all of the little and big girls in the house. ;) After she was done, the girls decided they wanted to give Mimi a foot rub as a thank you. :)

The day after Christmas, Hubby, Mimi and I went to see "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." I'm not a huge Star Wars nut, but I have fun memories of watching the original films with my dad. This one was awesomely epic. I loved the characters, both old and new, and the story. I know some people have complained about the plot being too similar to "A New Hope." While I can see their point, I also think the characters and story are interesting enough that it works, even with the similarities. I'm looking forward to the future installments of the franchise.

And yes, I bought a beanie to commemorate the occasion. It was three bucks at Target...plus I couldn't find any Rey or BB8 action figures. ;)

On Monday morning, I got to have breakfast with my dear friend, who was visiting for the holidays. We've been best friends since the sixth grade, and she lives in Arizona now, so our visits are not very frequent anymore. It was so wonderful to spend the morning with her and catch up. It's one of those relationships where, no matter how long we've been apart, we always are able to pick up right where we left off. :) Love you, K! Thanks for a great morning. :)

My Christmas gift to Mimi was tickets to the Doctor Who Christmas Special, playing for only one night and one showing this past Monday. 

I decided it would be fun to take Alice with me, since she's my Whovian.

As proven by her attire:

Mimi and I were both really excited to see it on the big screen, especially since River Song was going to be in the episode. It was also fun to meet a few other local Whovians. ;)

Unfortunately, there were technical issues at the theater, and they couldn't get the movie to play. Because it was only a one-time showing, we couldn't reschedule for another showing. We were just out of luck. It was so disappointing. :( The theater was kind enough to reimburse our tickets and give us free vouchers for another movie in the future, but it was still really sad, especially since that was my Christmas gift to Mimi.

On the way home, we stopped at Hot Topic and I used the movie refund to buy Mimi some Sherlock Titan figures for her collection, so at least she had something for her Christmas gift (besides popcorn and a soda). ;)

After I got back from the movie, I spent my last night at Mimi's house comforting Little Gal, who had excruciating pain in both ears and didn't fall asleep until four in the morning. I was able to get her an appointment the next day. Ear infections in both ears, just like I suspected. The good news is, after just one dose of medicine she had a much better night the next night, so we both got some much-needed sleep. I was so thankful she didn't have the infections until everyone else had left for home. We would have kept everyone up with her crying.

Overall, we had a wonderful time together and made lots of special memories. I always love sharing Christmas with my family. I want to be sure I cherish each special moment I have with them. Time goes by so quickly.

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So, as I mentioned a month or so ago, January will be a hiatus month for me, a time to regroup, organize myself, and take care of a few things around home. However, there are several review posts I'd really like to publish before February, so I'm going to try to crank those out over the next few days and get them scheduled for this week and the next. :) Stay tuned for some fun doll and toy finds! :)

9 comments:

BlackKitty said...

It was great seeing the presents and reading about your girls, as if I was there too! Oldest Gal is so mature and responsible, you must be very proud of her :) Middle Gal took some great photos, good for her that she has the tools for her creativity. And I hope Little Gal is feeling better now.
Funny thing about the cookies, I noticed you iced the top. I always ice the "wrong" side, it makes them softer and prettier ;)

Kirren said...

Oh my goodness, that's awful about the Christmas special! I'm so sorry, but so glad you had a good Christmas otherwise!

Anonymous said...

Do you have iPlayer in America? Perhaps you could check there. There's also a chance they'll rerun it again on television on New Year's day. It's a shame about the tickets, but keep an eye out.

J

Unknown said...

Your Christmas sounds fun! Although it was really sad you didn't get to see the Doctor Who Christmas special. I'm glad Little Gal felt better from her ear infections quickly - I used to get terrible ear infections when I was her age, and the doctors would never give me anything for it. I didn't have them again fir years, but then I got one in October, and I thought I was getting better, but two days later I got a headache and horrible pain in my neck, and ended up in hospital with meningitis on my 16th birthday. :/ (Not meaning to scare you - it is fairly unusual, and I've been run down after getting mononucleosis in July :P )

MyLittleMegara said...

As a new Whovian (I started at the beginning of Nine and am now in the early episodes of season three) I got very excited to see you going to the Special... and then it got cancelled!! I'm so sorry, that's no fun! I hope Little Gal feels better soon. Aside from those hiccups, it sounds like you had an absolutely wonderful Christmas. :)

Unknown said...

Where did you find the doll size sonic screwdriver, and mini 10th Doctor figure? The 10th Doctor is my favorite. So far, I've seen all of the new who episodes (9, 10, 11, 50th anniversary special, and all of 12). And right now I'm working my way through the older doctor's episodes. I'm almost done with the 3rd doctors episodes (I think I have about 1 or 2 more seasons left). This years Christmas special was great.

Unknown said...

So glad you guys had a great Christmas! We stayed with my family too. It's just more like Christmas having everyone together. I look forward to your future posts! Happy New Year!

Farrah said...

Great photos! The tree and presents look so pretty and cozy. It's nice to see a glimpse of your family Christmas traditions. Happy New Year!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Thanks so much for all of the sweet comments, everyone. :) I'm so glad you enjoyed the post. I was glad I had several "non-face" family photos to share with you. :)

Thanks, BlackKitty. I'm glad you were able to "be my guest" for Christmas. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the Beauty and the Beast reference.) ;D

I am super proud of Oldest Gal. She has her moments when she drives me up the wall, but she really is a sweetie with a good heart. :)

I'm super excited to see what Middle Gal does with her photography. She's super artistic, so she has a natural eye for anything like that. :)

Little Gal is much better now, thanks. Amoxicillin does wonders. ;)

Hmm, I've never thought about icing cookies on the "wrong" side. Maybe we'll have to try that next year! ;)

Thanks, Kirren. It was pretty disappointing, but everything else nice. :)

Hi J! Shortly after this post was written, my brother was able to find the Christmas special for me online, so at least I was able to watch it. I really enjoyed it. It would have been pretty fun on the big screen...

Hi Nikki! I'm so sorry you got so sick. What a horrible way to spend your birthday! :( I hope you've fully recovered and were able to have a good Christmas.

My girls are pretty susceptible to ear infections, although they've been getting less and less frequent as they've grown. Thankfully, they respond really well to medication.

Thanks, MyLittleMegara. :) Hooray for a new Whovian! I really enjoy Doctor Who, aside from a few issues I have with content and story. But I love the characters, their relationships with each other, and how much fun the series is. :)

We did really have a nice Christmas overall. :)

Hi Priscilla! Love your name. :) Let's see, the mini sonic screwdriver I found at Barnes and Noble, and the 10th Doctor figure I found on eBay. He's part of the "Time Squad" series. If you search "Doctor Who Time Squad" you should be able to find him. :) I had to wait a while to find one at a good price. Hope you're able to do the same. :)

The 10th Doctor is my favorite, too, although I also like the 11th. The 12th Doctor is growing on me, too. :)

I have to admit, though, I haven't been able to get into Classic Doctor Who. :{ I probably need to give it another try.

Thanks, Amanda! I agree...being with family always makes Christmas special. :)

Thanks, Farrah Lily. Glad you enjoyed the post. :) Happy New Year to you, too!