A Special New Years Eve with Grandma & Grandpa

To our delight, we had a REAL fire (a YULE LOG type fire) every single day we were at Grandma's and Grandpa's! Lots of family time together aound the fire always makes for a wonderful holiday! And did I mention that there truly was a "blue moon"?!?

National Gingerbread Competition 2009

What is bound to become a family tradition after Christmas is the Grove Park Inn's National Gingerbread Competition, . . . not to mention the hundreds of spectacular Christmas trees that are each decorated with a different theme. Mamma has never been more proud of herself in procuring free, classy entertainment! Our favorite was the little Catholic schoolhouse (complete with nun & uniformed school kids)! The girls also loved pointing to all of the twelve days of christmas in one particular gingerbred house as well as "The Candy Store" house. There was also first prize (the one with Santa's bookshelf and the big blue ribbon) and the "Grand Prize Winner" which was a birdcage holding the famed "two turtledoves." The girls also got to "drive" Santa's sleigh and took a long time looking at a cute "snow scene" in the middle of it all. Not to mention the beautiful mountains . . .

In the Days Following . . .

Oh my gosh, this was the scene EVERY SINGLE DAY: Annie lying in front of her new Christmas Ferris Wheel listening to the songs and watching it go round and round (and round). I didn't mind it for the first week or so, . . . . Another common occurrence is both of the girls snuggling with their "ride-ons." Not to mention homemade puppets, Star Wars clay figures, Strawberry Shortcake shootdown, marble runs, and Leia gets her pull-a-long pony!

Christmas 2009

And to continue the tradition in honor of my friend Karin, here are the girls at the top of the stairs before coming down on Christmas morning! : ) The first order of business (after claiming the stuffed snakes requested from the gift shop of the Pisgah Inn), was to run directly to their "ride-on elephant" and "ride-on horsey"! And BOTH girls were thrilled with their Aristocats “Marie” doll complete with holly accents. : ) The first surprise of the day? Despite her love of Better Batter Baseball at Logan’s house, Annie HATED the thing! Ha! Lots of excitement around the Lite Brite as well, . . . I just wish it translated into lots of use. But of course, as typical of our Leia Rose, the most spectacular big sister on Christmas Day EVER, . . . always helping, always loving. And as always, Mamma gave the girls something special from her childhood. Leia got “Lil’ Beggar Dog” my favorite gift of one particular Christmas. Annie got a Furskin, and the little quilt I made for Wilson when I was a little girl. Another funny issue (which was a mistake on Mamma’s part), . . . I had been waiting for just the right time to give Leia something that she has always asked for: my folk art wall hanging to match her room. I made one for Annie when she was born, and Leia has always felt slighted. Well, I finally finished Leia’s! I was very afraid Annie would feel bad, so I got her a pull-along pony that I found at Cracker Barrel. I wanted them to open the two at the same time. Well, um, yeah, Leia liked her wall hanging, but was devastated not to get the pony! Ha! I told her she would have one! LOL! And luckily for Santa, he could do his one-stop-shopping at CVS (as a result of a trip we took there one day), as a result Annie wanted a bunch of Christmas décor: a Christmas Snoopy, a Snoopy Snowglobe, a Santa Ferris Wheel, etc. Ha! She got it! And another surprise, . . . Santa not only procured one Zhu-Zhu Pet, but TWO (one for Annie, too). And after the baby ponies were opened, the girls (translation: Annie) began to focus on the food. First the gigantic candy buttons in the stocking. Then the huge tin of popcorn. But all the while, Annie was wearing her coveted “Penguin Slippers”! But for Leia, if there was one thing more surprising then the Zhu-Zhu pets, . . . was the Bakugons!!! (Little balls that pop open into robots.) Both Logan and Quentin love these, . . . so Leia was THRILLED. Meanwhile Mamma got to open a special gift: the chainsaw art bear made by Mountain Dan! (He’s the signature artist of this area, and I’ve wanted one of these since I saw him working by his shop!) Probably the silliest picture here is Leia hugging a HUGE chub of summer sausage! Other beloved gifts: the pony set that Leia gave to Annie (or more appropriately the zillion barrettes that came with it), Leia’s American Girl “Honey Dog” and grooming set, the Rudolph “Bumble Chase” toy, Annie’s baby Rainbow Dash pony, and Leia’s most favorite present: an Easy Bake Oven!!! Daddy set right to work helping the girls make their first cake, and when they ate it, I had to take a picture when Annie said, “Mamma! I’m not DONE!” when there were only crumbs on her plate.

Then it was off to Oma’s & Papa’s for Christmas Dinner, . . . and I took a picture in the front yard to truly prove that this was, in fact, a white Christmas!!! Meanwhile, Brian worshipped the gravy while Annie worshipped the rolls, . . . and Oma and Papa found the greatest wind-up toys ever! April got Annie a cute white bunny that Annie named “Peri” (big surprise) and Leia was surprised that Oma was able to find a Lollipop nutcracker ornament for her, . . . and a Gumdrop one for Annie! Daddy and Leia loved receiving “Lego Indiana Jones” for the Wii, and Oma loved her new “Oma” snow hat. What a very special celebration of Jesus’ birthday!