Christmas 2011

This was one of the most magical Christmases ever...especially for the girls! The whole process of Christmas seemed to be very real for them this year. Christmas Eve was especially beautiful. We all gathered that evening at Erin & Grahame's house to share in our potluck dinner - delicious as always. The Dorcalfe clan was in fine form! The house looked spectacular. After dinner, the girls and Erin put together a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. Jazzie was especially focused on ensuring there were enough carrots for each reindeer. They put the plate and a glass of milk by the fireplace and then hung their stockings with their Mommy & Daddy.  It was then time for Grahame to read 'Twas the night before Christmas. The girls sat on his lap with Erin at their side. The sight of them, between the fireplace and the Christmas tree, was a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. The girls could not have been more excited! I think the fact that they have all of their loved ones in one room at one time - that just has to special for them.  It certainly is for us! Once the story was over, they said their goodnights to all of us and headed to bed...with dreams of sugarplums dancing in their heads!

Christmas day was wonderful as well. It's nice that we all get to share in the excitement of the day with the girls. The next day the girls were tired - though likely not as tired as I was. I will admit to being punch-drunk tired and giggly. There were two things that I could not stop laughing about - and will admit I still laugh about them today.  The first was the ridiculous outfit that Auntie Sharon dressed the girls in. She bought them sweaters in the U.S. for 74 cents....and I would say she got what she paid for. Sweaters with lace ribbons glued to the front like a brooch. I wasn't a fan - but could have lived with them. But Sharon took it a step further - pairing the sweaters with leggings and brightly multi-coloured socks. Common. Zoe's outfit wasn't nearly as bad as Jazzie's since Zoe's sweater was black as were her leggings. But poor Jazzie had this hideous bright pink sweater, lace and all, with black leggings and then the socks. The crazy colored socks. She honestly looked like an 85 year old woman going to Bingo. I could not stop gigling everytime I looked at her. The 2nd thing that set me off were the dolls that Auntie Brenda sent down. They are antique dolls dressed in very ornate gowns and hats. I'm not sure what their actual names were, but I began referring to them as Steve and Bob. These dolls had very masculine faces...and I was sure one was sporting an Adam's apple. Zoe was not happy that I was laughing at her doll - poor Zoe. I just couldn't help myself - and I did try to backpeddle out of it, but Zoe is far too smart. Dang.

All in all - it was a lovely holiday. :)