We got the house all decorated. Also got to stay up late a lot of nights to watch Christmas specials like Charlie Brown, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, and the Grinch. Melia LOVED Frosty. She was glued to the tv. Even found a commercial that they both loved. They kept asking for us to rewind it and play it again.
Lots of dancing to our ghetto christmas horse.
We went to Downtown Disney to see Santa! Melia watched Cameron talk to Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Then they both got up to sit on his lap. She was fine for a moment...then started bawling. In spite of that, she is fascinated with Santa. Every time she sees him she says "ho ho ho".
David and the kids had a surprise birthday party for me. David was a little upset because they day they were planning it I decided to work from home. The only way he could keep it a surprise was to take Cameron out "Christmas shopping" so they could pick up cupcakes (since they couldn't bake a cake) and then he took me out for lunch so they could decorate while I was gone. They got a balloon that would never die! When you hit it the thing would play an Elvis birthday song. Melia loved dancing/singing to it. Even Sonny got in on the decorating fun.
Just before Christmas, we got free tickets from work to go to Sea World. We stopped to see the Dolphin's swimming in their tank. Melia was a huge fan! She would giggle each time they would jump and splash. Cameron got mad when he got a little splashed so he was quickly over it. We went to see Shamu. Neither of them cared much for the show. It's just not as exciting when no one gets in the water with the whales. They were really anxious to get out of there so the rest of the day was spent at Shamu's Happy Harbor for kids...riding all the rides. Melia still wasn't sure she liked the rides...especially those that move up and down (like the carousel).
A friend from work had a bonfire the weekend before Christmas. Cameron was excited because he got to make reindeer food there (for Melia too)! We mixed oats with sprinkles and glitter. Then on Christmas Eve, we sprinkled it all through our front yard. It helped the reindeer find our house and they got to eat it.
They also got to open 1 early present.
Of course Santa came! The kids got spoiled again this year.
Christmas morning they weren't up too early. Probably about 8. We had to have a video of Melia seeing the tree for the first year she could participate in Christmas. She had so much fun opening presents...peeling each piece of paper off each gift. Then she would immediately start saying "open, open" because she wanted everything out of the packaging.
While we were getting presents passed out, Melia was playing with her kitchen (a favorite). We had bought a small slide/climbing toy at a garage sale and set it up outside the windows behind the tree. She quickly spotted it and then would do nothing until we let her out to see it.
And of course you know they always love the packaging more than the presents. She thought she was hysterical putting the container on her head. We were doing a webcam with Grandma Donna, Grandpa Malcolm & Uncle Adam. Of course when they were laughing at her it didn't help. She had to keep doing it.
While we cooked our Christmas dinner, David turned on the old movie Mixed Nuts. Melia was hooked! She plopped herself down on the floor and just watched for the longest time!
