Christmas 2013

We had a wonderful Christmas this year...celebrating in Arkansas with family and friends and via FaceTime with all of our loved ones in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Oh to be a toddler at Christmas....there were lots of cookies, talks of Santa and his reindeer, celebrating Jesus's birthday, and of course PRESENTS, PRESENTS and MORE PRESENTS.  Addison is one lucky and loved little girl!

Christmas Eve we had the Dougherty Family Christmas dinner at our house.  We decorate cookies and gingerbread houses, opened presents, ate a wonderful lasagna dinner and opened more presents.

Christmas Day started early as Addison opened her presents and stocking from Santa before we headed off to 9am mass.  She was a little sleepy but still managed to convince us to open each toy as she finished unwrapping it.  And the big surprise of the morning was that Santa did in fact bring Miss Addison the flamingo she had been asking for!

After church Addison took a little nap, which worked out perfectly as John and I prepared for an afternoon at Papa Doc's and opened our stockings.  We then headed over to Papa Doc's for a mid-afternoon meal with family and friends.  And of course a few more presents for the kiddos.  The adults opted for a gift card exchange this year and it was a lot of fun.  Our contributions, $25 to a liquor store and $25 to the bar everyone does Friday Happy Hour at...they were both big hits!

Christmas was far from over at this point, so we made our way home to have "FaceTime Christmas" with my parents and sister in Michigan and then John's Mom in Wisconsin.  By this point, Addison was a pro at the present unwrapping and unfortunately barely paused between packages -- we have since taken a deep breath and taken the time to go back and look at and love each new toy/outfit/game/puzzle/book.

 

 

What a wonderful Christmas!

{Day #25} Christmas Elf

Day #25, the Christmas Elf left a M&M candy cane.

Merry Christmas

From Our Family to Yours...

Merry Christmas!

 

 

{Day #24} Christmas Elf

Day #24, the Christmas Elf left color bath dropz.

Lights of the Ozarks

We were in Fayetteville Saturday evening so we took Addison to the Square to see the Christmas lights.  It was a misty evening so none of the 'extras' were open (reindeer, carriage rides, etc) but Addison had the time of her life.

{Day #23} Christmas Elf

Day #23, the Christmas Elf left a Hello Kitty notepad and stamp.

"I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas"

We have our own version of this song at the Dougherty house this year...

I want a hippopotamus flamingo for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus flamingo will do
Don't want a doll
No dinky tinker toy
I want a hippopotamus flamingo to play with and enjoy

This year Addison is asking Santa for a flamingo!  We aren't sure where she came up with the idea but she has held strong on wanting Santa to bring her a flamingo since before Thanksgiving!  Sure, she has seen flamingos at the zoo and they are one of her favorites...but its been months since we've seen or talked about flamingos.  John did notice there was a stuffed flamingo in the Toys R Us Toy Catalog and now when you ask her about flamingos she will run and grab the catalog and show you.

She knows what she wants and when anyone talks about Santa or she sees a Santa or hears a song about Santa, she blurts out "Santa bring Addie a flamingo!"  But she says it so loud and so fast, most people besides Mom and Dad can't understand what she is saying.  Even as we've did our Christmas party circuit this year she would hardly tell a stranger her name or age, but if they asked her what she wanted Santa to bring her sure enough...."Santa bring Addie flamingo"...ha!

Regardless...what baby wants, baby gets!  So being the wonderful parents we are we scoured the internet high and low and decided on a reasonably priced (and sized) inflatable flamingo and book about flamingos to surprise her with on Christmas morning.  Can't wait to see her reaction!  But seeing she is a toddler, there is a good chance she will be more interested in the box its wrapped in...sigh.

{Day #22} Christmas Elf

Day #22, the Christmas Elf left Sesame Street color flash cards.

{Day #21} Christmas Elf

Day #21, the Christmas Elf left red and green Goldfish.  A whole box...wow!?!  How long will that take to devour.

{Day #20} Christmas Elf

Day #20, the Christmas Elf left Christmas stickers.

{Day #19} Christmas Elf

Day #19, the Christmas Elf left a new plastic Christmas plate.

{Day #18} Christmas Elf

Day #18, the Christmas Elf left a speedy Hot Wheels car.

{Day #17} Christmast Elf

Day #17, the Christmas Elf left a cup of yummy fudge graham cookies.

{Day #16} Christmas Elf

Day #16, the Christmas Elf left a super bouncy ball.

{Day #15} Christmas Elf

Day #15, the Christmas Elf left a Hello Kitty play pack.

{Day #14} Christmas Elf

Day #14, the Christmas Elf left Sesame Street number flash cards.

{Day #13} Christmas Elf

Day #13, the Christmas Elf left Christmas socks.

Christmas Cookies & Gingerbread Houses

This morning we had some girlfriends over to decorate Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses.  The little girls had so much fun with the icing and sprinkles.  I under estimated how quickly they would be able to crank out a half dozen cookies and a house each...I may need to put some of them on retainer for Made By ME...ha!

 

 

Each girl got an apron and their own little work station.
I thought the aprons were just a cute idea but they turned out to be a total necessity.

 

Addison hard at work...she knew just what to do.

 

 

Riley is sampling some of the candies 

 

Jenna using the sprinkle shaker...by far one of the favorites!

 

Addison sneaking a lick of the icing.

 

It's just easier this way :)

 

The finished product...

 

  

{Day #12} Christmas Elf

Day #12, the Christmas Elf left a snowman sipper.

{Day #11} Christmas Elf

Day #11, the Christmas Elf left a Cheez-It snack cup.

Snow Ice Cream

We all had some much fun playing in the snow this weekend.  Addison said she was hungry while we were outside and then preceded to eat her weight in snow...ha!  That made us start thinking and John suggested we make snow ice cream.