A Very Merry Christmas!!

We must have been very good this year because we all got everything we wanted for Christmas. Santa must have turned a blind eye!! The only thing we didn't get was an offer on our house for sale, but I am sure that will come with time too! When we put our house on the market in July, I never thought we would be here another Christmas, but everything happens for a reason, and it turned out great that we were still here. The girls got a lot spoiled, which may change in future years, but it was so fun to do it just once!!
We started Christmas Eve by riding Trax downtown to eat at Little America like Steve did when he was little. It turned out to be quite pricey and not great food. The girls were jsut too excited to sit still and be quiet so it was quite an adventure. We made treats for Santa and opened Christmas "nivies". (Claire for nighties, so cute!) Paige was a little upset since hers was a little big and she didn't get matching slippers like Claire. Her tantrum really made me want to make her sleep naked!! We had a hard time going to sleep, Paige was too excited and Claire was scared of Santa coming in our house!
Paige woke us up at 8:30 (very early for the Vincents!) by telling us we would never believe it! Santa came and he ate a lot of bread we left out for him. (Santa gets bored of cookies, and mom wanted cherry chocolate bread!) It is amazing how fast it is all over! The girls were thrilled!! We heard a lot of "Oh my word, this is just what I wanted" and "I can't believe it!" Steve did quite well shopping for me on his own and I think he was pleased with his new alarm clock and wallet (even though he would have liked it better with a Chick-fil-A gift card in it!! (More on that later, I am quite behind on blogging!!) We were able to spend the afternoon with my family and the evening with Steve's sister and brother-in-law who were a little lonely this Christmas. Their son Brady just left on his mission last Wednesday! After all our fun, we were eager to get some sleep. Despite their claims that they weren't tired, the girls were out before I could walk down the hall and Steve and I weren't far behind!

Vincent Family Christmas

Last night we had our family party for all the Vincents. We met at JoHanna's Kitchen for dinner. Not a very fancy place, but something for everyone and never very crowded so we could stay for a while to open presents and visit. The cousins were so excited to see each other, they always play so well together. We took our annual cousins picture for Grandma's Christmas card. In this years card we have (from left to right): Victoria, Tavia, Ashley, Brady, (second row): Christopher, Rhett, (bottom): Claire, Katherine, Paige, Tessa, Walker. This was a bittersweet picture since Brady (the oldest cousin who everyone adores) is leaving on his mission to France next week!

I was quite impressed with my girls eating (they are terrible eaters!) But apparently teddy bear pancakes were the trick! The cousins had all drawn names and exchanged gifts. Paige got a Princess GameIt, a handheld video game with several Disney Princess games on it, and Claire got a FisherPrice camping set complete with camper, fire and sleeping bags! Both girls were so thrilled we didn't see them for the rest of the night. In fact this morning, we had to pack them with us to take in the car to preschool to help with the separation anxiety. Since Steve's parents can't get out very well, they give the grandkids money to pick out what they want. Paige was so thrilled with her cash that she wanted to pay for our dinner! In fact, she pouted under the table when I took it away and told her we would buy something else with it. So sweet!

I also just had to post this picture. Katherine and Paige were born four hours apart on their Grandma Great's 93rd birthday. Even though the girls don't see each other very often, they are so quick to pick up where they left off the last time. They are such cute girls!