On Christmas Day, On Christmas Day

I debated whether I even wanted to post this, since Christmas was so long ago now. But, I decided I would remember it better if I wrote a little bit about it, so it's worth it to me to continue backtracking. Besides, there really hasn't been much going on around here lately, so I might as well talk about the past.

Eleanor really seemed to enjoy Christmas morning. She was able to really catch on to some of the excitement this year. She loved finding a candy cane in her stocking, and she loved opening presents. When she got to the bottom of her stocking and found an orange, she immediately dropped everything to go over to the kitchen table to eat her orange. She got a set of blocks from Santa, with a shape-sorter lid. She and her daddy have really enjoyed them (not that I haven't, but Grant is such a builder). The shape-sorter lid sure helps motivate her to help clean up. All I have to do is start matching the shapes, and she quickly wants to get involved. One day, she actually scolded me for trying to put them away before putting on the lid.

Grant and I gave her a couple of Little People sets. She has really seemed to enjoy them. The one she's playing with in the video is a pet salon, so she's doing the dog's hair. She got her first Little People set for her birthday this year. It had two little girls with it, and she would always call them "little boys." She's just recently starting to call them all girls.

Eleanor started to slow down at opening presents after a while, so we decided to take a break to get showered and dressed. As you can see, right after her shower, she was ready to go back to the presents. She opened her new hat and mittens and had to put them on immediately.

Here she is actually dressed, in her new sweater, too.

Once we were all done at our house, we headed over to my mother's to do some more Christmas with all of them. Here is Isaac, opening his present from Eleanor.

She gave him a little tool set. He's reaching into the package to push the button on the saw. He had so much fun with that saw. He cut just about everything and everyone in the house. Good thing it was just a toy!

You can see Uncle Father Bill in the background of this picture. It's hard to get a picture of him because he is so cooperative (please note the sarcasm), so I was glad to see him in the background of this picture.

Eleanor with Grandma. She wanted to sit in someone's lap every time she opened a present. I think she sat in Grandma's lap for the first few presents she opened on Christmas Eve, and that just set the precedence for all gift opening. Even at home, she would sit on my lap or Grant's to open a present. Her new baby doll is next to her. She liked it at first, but then she got really freaked out by Grace's doll that really cried and moved around. Now, since her new doll's eyes close when you lay it down, Eleanor is terrified of her own baby. We're working on it, but I think it will take a while. She won't hold it. Sometimes, she'll tell me it's crying, and tells me to hold it. She doesn't want to hold it herself. Someday, I'm sure she'll love it. Until then, she is enjoying all the accessories that came with it and using them with her other babies.