We signed up again this year for Santa's practice run with his reindeer on the night of December 23rd. That means we woke up on the morning of Christmas Eve to a tree full of presents at home. There is just nothing better in the universe than being a parent and watching the little darlings trot down the stairs on Christmas morning - just seeing the hope in their eyes followed by the manic joy of unwrapping. Pure holiday magic (as I've said a zillion times this month at least).
Here are some of the highlights, starting first with the video of the Schneider girls descending down the stairs on our Christmas morning.
And now a look back and the whole shebang - starting with our "Night before Christmas."
"Dear Santa. Cookies for Santa. Carrot for Rudolph"
Bea eating Reindeer Food off the floor
Always an occasion to strike a ballet pose
Bea eating more glittery reindeer oats
Bea going after Rudolph's carrot
"Dear Santa Claus. I want a model air plane."
And now on to Christmas morning:
No more oats, cookies or milk. Just a note from Santa in its place.
I should add a little backstory here. This is Bea's stocking. With her name on it. I bought this set of four stockings hoping that one day there would be a fourth Schneider. Just this year I added Bea's name to it like the rest of the family has and that was just a really special moment all around!
With as much rice as these kids eat, it is chopstick training time!
The giraffe was easily the biggest hit of the year! I bet there are lots of people out there grateful for Amazon's lightning deals this year and of course for Santa's elves!!
A new tree ID fandex for Louie from the girls...and an Oven Squirrel. Yea, I said Oven Squirrel.
Josie was more than willing to help Bea sort out gifts.
A new honey pot and tea cup for Mama!
SANTA BROUGHT THE MODEL AIRPLANE!
"THE EXACT ONE I WANTED!"
Bea immediately must try on a new shirt!
If the giraffe was the #1 present, Rudolph with the light-up nose was easily #2!
And the galloping unicorns are #3:
The top three of 2012!
And that was just the first Christmas. Coming tomorrow...the recap of Christmas Part Deux in Xenia.
It finally "for really real" snowed. The Austin & Schneider kiddos were pumped! So pumped in fact that Lou drove back to Cincinnati last night to get the snowsuits and sleds. Thank goodness the forecast was right!
We headed down to Shawnee Park thia morning- our childhood park whose snow hill seemed WAY bigger in our memories, making it super fun to think about how big it must seem to the Four Johnson grandchildren.
It was the perfect snowman-building, hill-flying, duck-chasing, snowball-packing, cheek-freezing, snow boot-crunching snow. And then we came home to Nutella & hot cocoa courtesy of grandma. Good times. Good times.
This year we finally took Josie to see the Cincinnati Ballet Production of The Nutcracker. Tickets aren't cheap and we were finally convinced she could make it through the whole show this year. Each week we've been watching the dancers practice for The Nutcracker at the studio when Josie is there for lessons - so it was really fun to see the whole process from beginning to end. (And next year Josie will be old enough to try out. EEP!)
The Nutcracker totally exceeded our expectations. Holiday magic all around!!!
