Home for Christmas

We came home Christmas Day, and Mia got to open her presents from us.  Her eyes were starting to glaze over somewhat from all of the presents.  She was a little overwhelmed between our gifts and the ones she got at Nana's.  The next day, Mimi, Pa Pa, and Zoey came to visit.  Mia and Zoey get along so well.  Mia likes to say that Zoey is her best friend.  They randomly just hug each other when they're together. 

Mia stayed home with Daddy today.  Looks like they had fun, doesn't it?

 

Christmas in Oklahoma

We spent the first half of our Christmas vacation at Nana and Keith's house.  We had tons of fun hanging out and playing games.  One night, we went down to Bricktown for some delicious pasta and a walk to look at Christmas lights.  It was a little nippy, but we bundled up Mia nice and snug.  On Christmas Eve, Nana and Keith made a fantastic meal for us...ham, homemade mashed potatoes...the whole works.  So yummy!  I helped Mia set out cookies and milk for Santa Claus.  As I put her to bed, I asked her whose birthday was on Christmas.  She said, "Jesus!" and launched into singing a round of Happy Birthday.  Santa is a fun Christmas tradition, but I want her to remember what's important as she gets older.  When Mia had her picture taken with Santa, she told him that she wanted a Mickey Mouse movie and a Mickey book for Christmas.  On Christmas morning, she came into the dining room and saw (among other things) a Mickey movie.  She was happy but immediately asked, "Where's the Mickey book?"  Oops.  I guess Santa forgot that one.  She didn't really care, though, and loved all of her gifts (especially her tent that looks like a princess castle).  Mia had such a good time with everyone.  I don't think she was ready to come home.

Couldn't find her one morning...discovered her perusing Nana's jewelry.

 Cruising in Bricktown.  Stole this from Nana's FB page :)

Licking meringue off of a mixer that Kenda gave her.

  Let the ripping of the wrapping paper begin...

 Christmas jammies!

 Santa came!!

See You Next Year, Benjamin!

Benjamin the elf showed up in a couple other places before we left town to go to Nana's house. 

He took a ride in Mia's pink car.

 Apparently, he needed a shower.

 When Mia woke up the first morning at Nana's, Benjamin was in the bathroom!  She was shocked that he had found her in someone else's house.

On Christmas Eve morning, Benjamin was sitting on the tv.  I guess he was making sure that Mia was good.  After she went to bed on Christmas Eve, Benjamin left to go back to the North Pole.  He'll be back next December, though!

 

Wordless Wednesday: St. Nick and Amelia

Mesmerized

Mia has watched An Elf's Story so many times that she has parts of it memorized.  That girl seriously loves it.  I can hear her no matter where I am in the house saying, "Go, Chippey, go!"  As soon as it's finished, I hear, "Can I watch it again?"  It's only about 30 minutes long, so we've watched it a lot.

Enjoying the movie...

again...

 and again...

 Enough movie-watching.  We're going to look at Christmas lights!

Elf Hijinx

Benjamin has been finding all kinds of places to occupy the last few days.  Mia has started looking for him with no prompting from me.  She's really enjoying having him around. 

One of the perks of being able to fly is you can hang out in high places

One morning Mia found Benjamin in her stocking with a gift.  He had brought her a jingle bell bracelet from the North Pole!  Mia said, "Thank you for giving me a bace-ret (bracelet).  That was berry (very) nice!"

Peeking out from the kitchen utensils

Perching on the curtain rod

Benjamin and the singing penguins took on Raggedy Ann in a marshmallow fight.  Whoa.  It looks like it got pretty wild.  Not sure who won.  Ann had a little marshmallow arsenal built up, though.

 

Benjamin the Elf

Mia has had lots of fun finding Benjamin each morning.  The first morning, she wasn't sure what was going on, but she found him on the mantle.  We had new mattresses delivered that afternoon, and the delivery guys leaned the new mattresses against the mantle.  Apparently, Benjamin fell from his perch on the mantle.  When Mia realized he wasn't up there, she got really anxious.  She kept saying, "Where's Benjamin?  Oh no, Mommy, where's Benjamin?"  After she returned from looking for him in the kitchen, he had magically reappeared on the mantle.  This is good since we can't touch him!  Mia understands that and likes to remind us.  I didn't think she really understood very well when we read the book.  However, when she watched the movie An Elf's Story about Benjamin's friends, she got really into it. 

Mia decorated the lower half of the tree with candy canes.  She decided that this branch needed three of them!

The next morning, Mia stumbled into the dining room with her green blankie to eat some breakfast.  She stopped to look at the Christmas tree, and there he was sitting right on top of it!  Mia was speechless.  She just stood there gasping and pointing at him.  Pretty funny.

The following morning, Mia discovered Benjamin in the pantry.  She said, "Mommy!  I thought he was in the living room!  I was looking for him in the living room, but he's in the pantry!"  She thought it was funny that he got some of her raisins.  She decided that he must be hungry.

After that, Mia found him on Connor's picture.

When she saw him this morning hanging from the ceiling fan, Mia said, "There's Benjamin!  He's swinging!  That silly elf!"

McGee Family Elf

I have been reading lately on some other people's blogs about "The Elf on the Shelf".  For those of you unfamiliar, it is an elf that stays at your home during the day but returns to the North Pole at night to let Santa know if the children in that house were naughty or nice.  A nice lady at my favorite children's boutique told me that it is good for "behavior modification".  Haha!  Mia has been struggling lately with following directions and listening in general, so Santa thought it would be beneficial to send her an elf to keep her honest.  Mia found her elf from Santa under the Christmas tree today.  We read the book that came along with it, but she may be a little young to fully understand the concept.  Each elf must be given a name by the family that adopts him.  I asked Mia what we should name him.  Her first suggestion was "Cock-a-doodle-doo Rooster", but that seemed really long.  Her other suggestions included "Cow" and "Mommy".  I told her to ask the elf what he wanted to be called, so she did.  I asked her what he said, and she replied, "Gingerbread Man".  Wesley said, "Did you say Benjamin?"  Mia said, "No, but he's not a Gingerbread Man."  Benjamin sounded good, though, and Mia agreed that it should be his name.  I told her that Benjamin will be watching to see if she's a good girl.  I also told her that Benjamin likes to play while she's sleeping and that she'll have to find him in the morning.  She looked at me like I was just messing with her mind.  Hehe!  I bet she'll catch on in the morning and love it.  I can't wait to see what adventures Benjamin has!

Pippi Longstocking

For some reason I am unable to explain (but am grateful for) Mia allowed me to double french braid her hair.  Can you stand this?  Major cuteness!  I love playing with different hairstyles for her.  It will be less messy next time because I'll make sure her hair is damp.  She has fine hair like I do which can make it a little difficult to keep in place.

Christmas Parade

Our little family of three met up with some of our friends at the Dallas Christmas Parade downtown today.  Mia and Reese are in the same class at daycare.  We love hanging out with Scott and Holly, and little Ryleigh is so adorable!  Mia oohed and aahed over the floats and giant balloons.  She saw some of her favorite characters including Llama Llama Red Pajama, Madeline, and Curious George.  We stood in misty rain for a portion of the parade, but for the most part it wasn't too cold.  I love how Dallas celebrates every holiday and event in a BIG way.  Mia loved it!

This is the first year that Mia has somewhat of a concept of who Santa is and that toys can be had in return for good behavior.  She's sketchy on the details but excited at any rate.  Mia has been requesting her Christmas story book quite often.  She loves pointing out Jesus and the angels.  She's too young to understand everything, but she knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday (which she likes to announce).

  Llama Llama Red Pajama

 Followed by real llamas!

 Jordin Sparks

 All tuckered out that afternoon