Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a good night! Though it's 10:30 pm and our little "angel" is still wide awake and refusing to sleep. This morning was the first morning that she came into our room to wake us up; usually she just slams her own door shut and plays with her bears and dog. Too bad it was only 7:15 am and we were up the night before until it was officially Christmas. So we got up, brushed our teeth, and made our way downstairs and saw all of the wonderful gifts Santa had brought us. Stasa's eyes lit up when she saw everything. 





Yiayia had sent her a beautiful dress (with a matching doll's dress), a crocheted apron dress, and an awesome pink tracksuit. And Stasa opened a Cinderella DVD and matching dress from Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Josh. 



Cousin Andreas was very generous and sent THREE play food sets, all of which were very tasty.






She got the hang of opening presents right away and insisted on "helping" mommy and daddy open theirs. Needless to say present opening went pretty quick - she didn't even stop to really look at the gift - just off to the next one, like a true toddler. She did spend quite a bit of time looking through her stocking and loved all of the treasures in there.









New hair bows!



Her very own hairbrush (so mommy can reclaim hers)



So many presents!



After present time we played dress up and tried on some of the clothes.









And we played with her new kitchen (in her apron dress from Yiayia and her Elmo slippers from Santa).






Then we colored with her brand new big girl crayons.






And right before nap time she curled up on the couch next to daddy with her box of animal crackers and her milk.






While she napped Tom and I finished up prepping and cooking for dinner and got the table all set up. Tom made a roasted duck, mashed potatoes, an oyster stuffing, a regular stuffing, and stuffed tomatoes (my all-time favorite). Pete and Tiffany brought ham, sugar snap peas, homemade bread, and a delicious fruit salad (which I'm still eating now). My family came over for dessert, coffee, and presents and I think Tom and I may have shared our cold with them over graduation weekend. :C  Dessert was chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread men, gingersnaps, oatmeal raisin cookies, angelfood cake, sweet potato pie, baked apples, and chocolate chip cookie bars. Everything was so delicious and I definitely ate more than my share, especially during dessert. Stasa had a blast with everyone and is really starting to warm up to all of the family members (though she still gets super excited when Mimi/Aunt Peggy walks in). 


I'm praying that she decides to sleep in a bit later tomorrow morning to allow us all a little extra time to sleep. If not, at least I can nap on the playroom floor while she "cooks" me something tasty in her new kitchen.