Merry Christmas!

Some Moments to Remember:

We celebrated our little family Christmas on the 23rd before heading to La Crosse to spend the holiday with extended family. The night before, Gianna put out some cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  When I got the carrots out for the reindeer, she informed me that they needed dip too.  The next day, in his letter, Santa told her the reindeer especially liked the dip she had left for them:)

Andy had to work on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas:(  Due to his work schedule, he wound up making three round trips, to and from La Crosse, in a matter of five days.  We were thankful for all the safe travel!  Through it all, he kept his spirits high and was grateful for the time he did have off.

I had brought Gianna's shinny, "tappy" shoes to wear with her Christmas dress. They were a size 6 and knowing she was mainly in a size 6 1/2 now, I brought some other black shoes along just in case her "tappy" shoes didn't fit. When I went to put on her tappy shoes, she told me they were too tight so I pulled out the other black shoes I had packed. The other shoes were not shinny and didn't tap... when she saw them she pointed back to her tappy shoes and said she wanted to wear them. I put them back on and she said, "Oh! they're okay!"... What's a little discomfort when you can tap!;)

At the Christmas Eve mass, Gianna sweetly sang her rendition of Away In a Manger.  During a completely different song, she sang, literally, over and over again, "Little Lord Jesus, Lay Down," "Little Lord Jesus, Lay Down," "Little Lord Jesus, Lay Down..."  until the song came to an end; you couldn't help but smile:)

Christmas Eve night, Gianna fell asleep on the car ride home, holding on to her new Hello Kitty purse.  When we got back to my parents' house, she woke up a bit; I brought her inside and laid her in her crib.  When I laid her down, she looked at me and said, "I want my purse." She fell asleep again, holding it.

Before Andy arrived on Christmas Day, I asked Gianna, "Guess who's coming?!"  She guessed Santa. I said, "No, not Santa... Daddy!"  She then informed me that Daddy was coming with Santa.  I don't think she was too disappointed when only Daddy showed up though-- she ran to him in excitement:)

She got a few shirts for Christmas.  To see if they fit, she held them up by her chin and let them hang down.  Then she would say, "See, it fits!"

I got a new camera for Christmas. It is one that will shoot continuous shots, on certain settings, if I hold down the button.  Needless to say, you can take a lot of pictures in a matter of seconds.  With that feature, combined with the trial and error shots I took to test out the camera, I wound up taking over 500 pictures during our Christmas celebrations.  It took me a few hours to weed out the good and bad ones;)

Overall, we had a nice Christmas holiday and enjoyed seeing many members of our family.

Happy 2011!