Vivi was home from the hospital on Wednesday and by Saturday the 30th she seemed well enough to have Christmas Eve. I admit I was nervous to plan on it, but she stayed healthy and all was well. We invited what family could come to join us for Christmas Eve or Christmas. We didn't get to see everyone, but thankfully it worked out for most everyone to stop by.
Stella announced that she wanted to take a bath and get cozy (she was already in jammies, but no matter). So I had her and Vivi open their matching jammies. Even Daddy had some new pajama pants to open. The matching jammies were one of the number one things I was sad about missing on Christmas, so I was worried they wouldn't pack the same punch a week late. However, they delivered! And they definitely set a festive tone for the rest of our night.
We had a lot of Christmas activities that we had to fit into one night and we didn't do them all. However we did decorate the gingerbread house. Vivi LOVED it. She is so observant and watched Daddy and Big Sister do some work and then jumped right in to help. After the house was decorated in all its glory, Stella helped Vivi pick out the perfect stocking.
Grammie and Papa came over with pizza and we opened presents. Vivi figured it out pretty fast and loved all of her gifts. I was lucky enough to get my Salt Lake Temple painting that I had spotted at Deseret Book when we went to see Santa. Wahoo! And my mom went out of control on eBay and bought me WAY too many Star Santas for my ever-growing Star Santa collection. But the real star of the night was Stella's LEGO Disney Castle. Oh man, what a surprise. (Note: We are still working on it and it is definitely a challenging set.)
Then it was time to get out our Santa plates and ask him to come that night for a special trip. We put out some unfrosted sugar cookies and carrots for the reindeer. Vivi must have been needing some vitamins because she just grabbed the carrots and started eating them all, then spent the rest of the night with carrots in her mouth.
So did it really feel like Christmas Eve? No, it didn't. The Christmas music, jammies, gingerbread house, and all the presents didn't magically take us back in time. But that was okay with me. Christmas was just different this year. I made my girls sit at the tree so I could take some pictures of them together, and I'll tell you what...I felt so much gratitude and love for the two of them in the moment it was almost too much. I didn't think I could love those two rascals more than I did, but it turned out...I could. I was taught a lesson this Christmas that I will never forget.
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