Christmas Eve 2010

elenora came running in at 6:50 am. luckily i'd thought to leave out some crayons and strips of colorful paper on her play table, so she happily went downstairs and played until i was ready to get up at a more reasonable 8 am.  after all, it was my holiday too!

she's been so good about being imaginative with her little critters and her dollhouse, so i could hear her downstairs making up all kinds of stories and using different voices for her different characters.

then j. and i got up and we all got dressed and went to the pancake house for a special breakfast.

in the early afternoon, ella and i got outside and took a nice long walk to shaws for some orange juice and blueberries.  then we watched winnie the pooh's christmas and got ready to head into boston for the service.

the service was really lovely.  we get front row seats because momby plays the piano and j. played his violin.

afterwards, j. and his parents stayed for the second service and ella and i headed back to the b.'s house for her dinner.  i started putting her food on her plate and she exclaimed "Mommy, these are snacks!"  and i said "yes, well, that's what we eat on christmas eve.  we eat snacky foods."  and she said "why are we eating snacky foods?!"  and i said "because we're b.'s and it's tradition!"

she thought it was so funny.

when i put her to bed she was so very tired.  we read one book and then i sang carols to her with the lights off, but could see her precious eyes blinking slowly as her head lay heavily on the pillow.  before i walked out of the room i whispered "merry christmas, elenora." and she whispered back "merry christmas, mommy." 

oh dee doh, we love each other so.

i made a cup of tea and read my book (wally lamb #2) until the family arrived, then we had our own late, snacky dinner (shrimp cocktail, veggies and dip, chips and salsa, asparagus soup, summer sausage with cheese and crackers, olives) and relaxed together before heading home.

j. of course wanted to open our stockings and exchange a couple gifts between the 2 of us when we got home, so i gave him his model boat and his celtics jersey and he gave me a beautiful, adjustable chain for my diamond necklace, 2 cds, and a season of smallville.