Santa visits the Geurin house

After a nap to recover from Christmas with Bubbie, we headed back to my parent's house because we heard Santa had visited there and left a few things for our sweet little girl.

Meredith cruising in the "Blue Car" that she kept asking for from Santa. I was very hesitant to allow Santa to bring something like this since we had already talked to him about bringing other things, but he insisted when he found this one. She has loved it - especially because it comes with tools which she uses to "fix" the car every few feet or so...

Aunt Katie and Uncle Neil's dog, Winnie, was staying with my parents while they visited Katie's parents, so Meredith enjoyed the very nice day with Winnie, in the backyard.

Meredith loves to watch Winnie (who is a retired Greyhound racer) do laps in the backyard

Christmas Brunch with Bubbie and Grandad

Our first stop on Christmas morning was to visit Bubbie and Grandad for our traditional brunch. Bubbie made a great egg casserole which we were able to eat before opening presents (somehow I am thinking that next year she might not let that happen again!)

Posing with the tree and the presents at Bubbie's!

Meredith and Bubbie looking through the toy book that has been at Bubbie's for awhile. They have a nice routine of "reading" this together and finding certain toys.

Christmas Morning at Home

Neal and I were very excited for Christmas morning because we knew how hard Santa had worked to find just the right gifts for Meredith this year. She has loved a small train set she got for her birthday and we heard that Santa got a great deal on an expanded version on Black Friday. Daddy was especially happy about this because he loves playing trains with her! We also hinted to Santa that Meredith would be very surprised to get her own makeup set, so we think he found another great deal so she got to get both! She must have been such a good girl!

Santa's handy work by our fireplace. Neal said it looks like we have a boy and a girl in our house!

When Meredith woke up, we had to remind her that Santa had visited. She was a little hesitant that he might still be lurking, but as soon as she saw her "Choo Choo Twaaaiiin!" she was no longer too concerned. The only problem came when she saw that Santa had actually eaten her cookies. She still acts very sad when she remembers that he ate them all!

Even though she shouted the loudest about the train, she ran immediately to her vanity and started to work on her hair. She loves putting on makeup with me, so I knew she would enjoy that part of the vanity, but so far she has been much more interestedin doing her hair. She loves her hair dryer and putting in curls!

Meredith testing out the train. She and daddy have had so much fun with this!

Showing off some candy from her stocking.

Before we headed out to the rest of our Christmas day stops, we opened a few presents that were from us to Meredith, including a doll house that she loves. She almost immediately lost the pink baby, which was very hard on her until Daddy found it tonight (after we had torn the house apart). She has named the big sister Sarah and the blue baby, Wally (or really, I am guessing Wall-E from the Disney movie.) Maybe now the pink baby will get a name!

So happy to be testing out her doll house!

Merry Christmas - Christmas Eve with the Geurin Family

This is a week belated, but I finally have a few minutes to post some fun pictures and stories of Christmas with Meredith!

We kicked off Christmas as usual with Christmas Eve service with my family at our church. I was very hopeful to get to see the whole thing for the first time in the past few years (since it is a little long for the little ones!) We made it much further than normal, but Landon taking a break to go hang out in the lobby sent Meredith to tears wanting to see him. So we followed behind Uncle Neil and got to play with Meredith's best friends Sarah and Rachel until it was time to light the candles. I convinced Meredith she would love the pretty lights and we were able to finish out the evening with everyone else.

We headed back to my parent's house for dinner and then lots of fun with the family. Meredith had helped Gigi with adding lots and lots of bows to everyone's presents, which made them even more festive!

Meredith and Landon in their best Christmas duds - Meredith shows Landon how to rip into the presents!

Meredith and Landon cuddling with Gigi - the little ones are comfy in their jammies now, plus Meredith has added a princess dress from Gigi and Papa on top!

As soon as we got home, we made a plate of cookies for Santa and were off to bed. Meredith was still not too sure what to think of Santa visiting our house, but anytime there are cookies involved in an activity, Meredith is all for it!