Christmas Day

After the way our night ended Christmas Eve, I was glad to wake up Christmas morning and have gotten a good night's sleep.  My alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. so that I could finish breakfast before Avery got up.  I also had to help Santa rearrange the gifts since he had left everything in the back of the Gator so that Sammy wouldn't pee on it during the night.

We got Avery up a little after 7 and she was excited to see what Santa had left.  Initially, she really wanted to get downstairs to play with her stroller.

Her Gator was a big hit for sitting, and Bitty's seat was equally exciting.  She was also ready to get into the kitchen with her ice cream set and felt pancakes.

Ned was adamant that we open presents before parents arrived, and I couldn't figure out why.  I unwrapped an Amazon box from Avery and was very surprised to find a Pandora box inside.  I had been mentioning that I wanted one, but it was not to be for Christmas since we have a lot coming up.  Avery was excited that my bracelet had a stroller on it just like she had gotten.  Ned was excited about his Keurig, and even I think it's pretty cool, though I'm not a coffee drinker.

Avery was excited for my parents to knock on the door and see what Santa left.  We started eating because my mom needed to get home and cook, and Ned's parents and brother arrived soon after.  It somehow came up that my parents have a squirrel trying to chew into their house, so my father-in-law went and found a BB gun.  I'm not sure why, but he felt the need to give a demonstration to my father, and he managed to shoot the floor with a stray BB.  This is my married life, people.  No one shot their eye out, and my parents left with their weapon so that we could open presents.  We took Avery's Gator outside and totally freaked her out by making it go.  So, for right now we have a fairly expensive Gator seat in our living room.

Everyone left and I decided it would be too rushed getting to church, so we all sat back to relax and play.  It was another one of those moments where things were too calm.  Ned's brother called to say that our lab (living with Ned's parents) had eaten 52 pieces of Russell Stover chocolate.  Dixie is living with them so that he would have a brick floor to his pen, but they have turned him into an inside dog which he has not.  He's gotten into some things...the turkey and ham at Thanksgiving...and I do not fault him at all.  Chocolate can be deadly though, so I called an emergency vet an hour away.  They said we needed to bring him in but put me in touch with animal poison control, who gave me instructions for making him vomit.  So, our calm morning turned into Ned spending two hours making Dixie vomit and checking in with the vet at poison control.  While I was handling that, Avery drew on the couch with an ink pen that yes, I gave her.  While I cleaned that, the poor child wet her pants which she never does.  I thought she could wait for one more hair spray treatment.  Frustration did get the best of me at one point, but I tried to enjoy some time with Avery.

Luckily, this is where the Christmas Vacation Part 2 ends.  After lunch and nap, we got ready to go back to Lolli and Poppa's.  We were able to visit before family arrived and then we sat down to a yummy dinner.  Avery loved singing Happy Birthday to Jesus but didn't care for either desserts.  She was sure the extra presents under the tree where for her, and entertained everyone with her excitement over them.  We had a fun time visiting and left after nine, later than we planned.

Happy birthday dear Jesus!

It wouldn't be a Lankford Christmas without the craziness, but overall it was a great, fairly calm holiday.  We are already anticipating what Christmas will be like next year.