Merry Christmas, Elenora!

momby and r. brought ella back just before 9 am and we all drank mimosas and coffee (except elenora, of course) and had some finnish bread and blueberries while my egg casserole baked.  elenora opened her stocking and a few presents before breakfast, and then momby and r. took off and we opened the rest of our gifts.

ella got some hanukah coins (for the jew in her) and a flashlight, a new boo-boo buddy, 2 nail polishes, some chocolate, toothbrushes, and a huge candy cane in her stocking.

ella's big presents were more legos (lots more, including pink ones) and some doll furniture for her little critters.

i also got her some water color paint and paper.  she wanted to paint right away.

j. made elenora a sweet book called "Elenora and the Animals" which has photos of elenora with various animals all throughout her life, with captions.

yes, he gets best dad award yet again.

here she is in her christmas dress from lorien.

i tried to capture a sweet photo of myself and elenora, and she was such a silly, making goofy faces, that we both ended up laughing really hard by the end.

in the afternoon we headed over to the b.'s.

ella got a tennis racket from uncle j. and aunty h.  i can't wait to go out and play tennis with her.  i hope it's a sport that she can really get into, since i think i could have been kind of good at it if i'd ever been introduced to it as a kid.

she received more watercolor paints and paper from momby, and was eager to paint with them right away.  she made a beautiful painting where she methodically went down the line of colors and used each one to create a sort of sunrise effect.

elenora had created cards for each one of us with her mamaw.  here she is giving uncle j. his card.

here are j. and h.  their christmas will be very different next year with a 10-month-old!

and here i am with j., my sweet husband.  he picked out this sweater for me for christmas, which is now my favorite sweater.