Magical Christmas

I don't know what it was about this Christmas in particular, but it was by far one of the best Christmas holiday I can remember.  I am usually one of those people that starts taking down Christmas on December 25th.  Not because I am a Scrooge, but it is more of finding the time to actually do it.  However, I don't want to take it down.  I think because once I take everything down then Christmas will really be over.


On the 23rd Payton, Mema, and Grandpat all went to Bass Hall to see the Nutcracker.  It was okay.  I think next year we will go see a play instead.  However, on the way to Bass Hall we ran into Santa Claus.

Of course Payton froze when Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas.  The girl has everything so I can see how it is hard for her to come up with anything to ask for from the big guy.

After seeing Santa we were off to the Nutcracker.

My mother does not drink.  Not even wine with dinner every now and then.  However, they had this Winter Wonderland drink and she decided she would give it a try.

She took two sips and she was done.  However, it did look very pretty.


The next day, Mema took Payton out and about so Santa could finish some last minute wrapping.  I am telling you, Santa's elves slacked a little bit on getting everything done. That night we made cookies and went to evening church.  Payton of course fell asleep (at the 7:00 p.m. service).  When we came home we put her to bed and started getting everything ready for Santa.

Santa really out did himself this year. After opening presents we went to my parents house to celebrate Christmas.  On the way there, it started snowing.  Payton and Cooper had so much fun playing in the snow.  I don't think Derek had as much fun, but it was worth him staying out in the cold to let them play.

Derek and I got Payton two "bigger" gifts from Christmas.  The first one is this:

Santa was smart and left this one up to Mommy and Daddy to give Payton.  I clearly remember the story from my parents about how Santa giving my sister and me a Barbie Dream House nearly caused a divorce at 3:00 a.m. one Christmas long ago.  Therefore, I didn't want Santa and Mrs. Claus to have a major falling out in the middle of night trying to put this together.  It is a good thing that Santa left this to Mommy and Daddy because it took Daddy six hours (over two days) to put this together.  We do have an extra bolt, but it seems to work fine, and Payton loves it.  I seriously think Derek would have killed me over this, but he can tell how much Payton loves it and that is all that matters.

The second gift Derek and I gave Payton was this Princess microphone.  She loves this thing.  We all have to do performances.  Derek did the Gambler by Kenny Rogers.  I didn't have my phone to record it so you will just have to trust me that it was wonderful in its own special way.  So I will leave you with this original song by Payton.  However, I must warn you of a few things:  (1)  I have no idea where this song came from; (2) the dance moves are all her; and (3) we do not watch music videos on TV.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.