Our Family Christmas Day

After heading home from Gigi's on Christmas Eve, Meredith very excitedly put out the homemade donuts we worked on earlier in the day. A few months ago Meredith started asking how to make donuts and when we could make some at home. She then decided that when we made donuts, we needed to make extra to leave for Santa. With some juice, of course. He probably gets tired of cookies, you know! So, I found a fun little donut maker on sale and brought it home! We experimented with a recipe and frostings and of course added sprinkles! For Santa, she made some special green iced donuts!

So proud of her donuts for Santa!
Yum!

Meredith had visited Santa several times and decided that she would like a "Robot Dog" (which she decided she wanted him to leave at Gigi's house when he visited her) and also a Talking Jessie doll (for Toy Story). I tipped Santa off to these really cool bikes for Jillian, called Striders - they don't have pedals, so they are made just for toddlers to help them learn to ride bikes without pedals. When I told Meredith that I was going to suggest this for Jillian and if that was ok with her (didn't want her to be upset that she wasn't getting a bike since she already has a traditional bike) she told me "That's ok mom, I can ask Santa for a horn for my bike instead!" Too cute! However, I couldn't bring myself to not give Santa another idea for something that would be a little more in line with her sister's bike for our house!

Must have been some pretty good girls at our house! And it looks like Santa came up with a pretty good surprise for Meredith. (Don't worry he also left a bike horn for each girl in their stockings!)
Santa also left this note thanking the girls for his donuts. Meredith carried this note around all day and was so excited to show it to everyone - especially the added green icing he left on it!
Look how excited she is to get out to see what Santa brought!
Even more excited now that she sees it all!
The Surprise Jeep from Santa was a big hit! She did have a moment where she asked where her Robot Dog was, so I had to remind her about her request of Santa!
Jillian grabbed a few of her stocking stuffers and jumped in the Jeep while Meredith was distracted with her stocking! They both are having fun with it and sharing it nicely!
Each girl also got a "pointer" in their stocking. Meredith mentioned liking these at her school book fair and Santa must have overheard! They were both sticking up out of their stockings, but when Meredith came out she couldn't see hers because of a little baby bottle blocking it. She started laughing and said "Silly Santa! He got ours mixed up! I bet that pointer in Jillian's is for me and the bottle is for Jillian!" She was even happier to find out that they both had them (so was Jililan!)

Meredith was also pretty excited to see Jessie in her stocking!

After breakfast, we headed to our tree and opened a few presents that we had gotten for each other. Meredith was excited for Jillian to rip into the present she got for her first - a baby doll with all kinds of accessories!

Jillian with her Baby Cinderella from Meredith and the girls' matching Bilibo's
Meredith testing out the Bilibo
Remember how I said that Jillian loved hooded towels in my Christmas Eve post? Well, that was the inspiration for this present - Jillian does an adorable Cookie Monster impression, so I couldn't resist. She loves it!

After we opened all the presents, we headed outside to test out what Santa left!

Jillian was happy to try out her bike, but she is going to need a little longer to get the hang of it!
Sissy on the other hand got the hang of her jeep right away!
Our family in our Candy Cane themed PJs! What a great year and a fantastic Christmas Day. We are incredibly blessed!