The advantage to having a very young toddler is that you can do Christmas however you want without ruining future years of tradition. Since Katy is overloaded with presents we decided to let her start opening a few on Christmas Eve this year. This way she could dawdle and play with each gift without feeling pressured to move on to opening the next without giving the current one its due. It worked VERY well for us. She got to really enjoy things as they came, which was a treat for us too.





We had time to read every book she opened.



Several times.



She got to dress up and parade around, which she thought was great.



And take time to put stickers all over.





She could make the wind-up butterfly actually fly.



We also spent time doing some Christmas-Eve type things. Our postal facility here decided to open from 9am to 11pm on Christmas Eve (they didn't have to, it's a Federal Holiday and the post office is technically closed) for package pick-up. Ryan and I thought that was incredible, especially since it was open and operating solely on the manpower of volunteers. We went out and bought a large quantity of snack food to take to feed the volunteers. We also bought snacks for the gate guards because it's no fun to have to work out in the bitter cold, away from your family, on a holiday.

Then we came home and set up the traditional (for us - not traditional for Germans) luminarias. Katy wanted desperately to help light the candles.



Notice that she stole a candle from outside (we watched her do it, so no worries, it wasn't lit at any point that it was near her). She was so excited to start opening presents again that she wouldn't even take off her jacket. At the beginning of the day she wasn't sure about the present opening thing but by the end she was an old pro.



OK, she was an old pro at asking for help. She's still not entirely sure how to get them started.



Some more random pictures from the day.



















Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Eve-Eve.

We took one look at the pile of presents this morning and realized that we were in BIG trouble on Christmas day. It's just plain physically impossible for Katy to unwrap every single one of those things in one day; everyone has been very generous. So, we decided to let her open one today to have something new to play with while she was stuck in the kids area at the gym. She was excited that we handed her something that WE were obviously excited about, but didn't know what to do with it.



Oh, you're supposed to take this paper stuff off?



You're right, it's much more fun once you realize what's inside.





In the afternoon we decided to pack up and head to Kinderspiel. I seriously downsized my expectations of Christmas this year (except the pile of presents, which seems to grow by the minute) so I just didn't have anything left to do. No cookies to bake, nothing. I'm sure next year I'll ramp back up again, but I didn't want to overtax myself since I didn't know how I'd feel after surgery; it was nice to feel like I had time to go and PLAY for a few hours.

Katy as the jet pilot.



This was pretty amazing to me. Katy has always loved to watch this train. She stands outside the gate and ooohs and aaaahs as it comes around the track every time. We've never been brave enough to let her on (the only carnival-type rides we let her on are the ones that we can stand right next to her on - she still doesn't understand that it's not a good thing to fling yourself from a moving object). The woman running it has seen us there about a million times and asked if I wanted to put her on. Katy was game and the woman said she'd stop the ride if Katy got scared, so it was a go!



We cheered and clapped for her every time she came around, which I think helped make it much more fun for her. By the last lap around she was out of steam for it and started to get a bit panicky, but she did well and actually rode the entire time.



On to motorcycles. I think this child is going to be trouble....



The train started up again and here she is looking longingly towards it.



Unfortunately, by the time we got back over there they were done running it for the day (they only run it a few times a day and we were there at the end). But, the neat thing for me was that Katy stood at the gate, looked at the train and signed "train" indicating that she wanted to ride (thanks again, Diane, Signing Time is an incredible set of DVD's!). I was so proud that she was able to remember and use her sign language to ask that it broke my heart to tell her that it wasn't going anymore for the day.

But, as is always the case in toddler-land, she was easily distracted. She wanted to play air hockey! We set up a chair for her to stand on so she could play by herself. She thought it was incredibly fun.











And in case anyone wonders, Katy beat her Daddy.



One last time down the slide, this time riding on Daddy.



One last pat of the cow bench.



And one attempt at the rock wall later, and we were off towards home. All exhausted, but happy.

Last night we headed over to our friend's house for a lovely dinner (thanks guys, it was wonderful!). I dressed Katy up in hopes of catching a picture of her near their tree (since I didn't put up a big one at home this year) and I wasn't disappointed. She was fascinated by the ornaments and wanted to touch each and every one of them; but she was surprisingly gentle. It gives me hope that next year I'll be able to put up a tree and it will actually survive.





They couldn't resist and bought Katy a Christmas present, so she got to unwrap her first present of the season. It required much more prompting than I thought it would. Ryan helped her start and she ripped off a small piece. Then she had to give away the piece of paper.



Then she pulled off another tiny scrap and had to make sure to give it away before she could continue.



This went on for quite a while. I thought all kids love to rip wrapping paper off presents! She is quite the dawdler!



Finally she got to the real deal.



The reward was worth it. What a huge grin; she loves books so much. She had everyone reading it to her.



Then on to playing with the ribbon.



And finally, what evening would be complete without floor angels for entertainment?



Look at that grin! I'm not sure you could have found a more pleased little girl.

See, it really IS the box that's the best part of the gift.

On Sunday afternoon we broke down. The little pink stroller could take no more abuse and it could not be pried from Katy's hands. She loved that stroller so. Yes, I know that it's Christmas and you aren't supposed to buy gifts early, but we reasoned that this was a "replacement" because the stroller was actually becoming a hazard to all of our safety.

We went out and bought a plastic shopping cart instead. Shopping cart? Who needs a shopping cart when there's a box ready to play with. Of course, Ryan helped matters by giving the box a hole to look out of.



Sharing an "I love you for buying me this awesome box" kiss with Daddy.



She wouldn't even take the box off to play with her other toys. Yes, she's running cars down the ramp by putting her arm out the one hole (we eventually put a few arm holes in but I had grown tired and put down the camera by then).



We told her it was time for dinner and the arm popped out. I guess she thought we were going to just hand it right in (we didn't and the box is now resting comfortably in our basement as I finally finished assembling the shopping cart and the box was long forgotten).



And, finally, a good Nana and Katy shot.



Katy is slow to warm up to people she doesn't know so we were all nervous. She's taken VERY well to having Nana in the house helping out. When I asked during my early appointments if it would be OK immediately post-op to pick up a 30 pound toddler my surgeon responded by telling me I could throw her in the air if I wanted to. Um, yeah, right. As the surgeon eyed Katy he released me from the hospital under strict instructions to not pick her up for two to three weeks. Do you know hard that is; especially when you live in a two story house? Having my Mom here has been a invaluable piece of my recovery. I'm finally feeling human. Today is the first day I didn't immediately flop onto the couch the moment I put Katy down for her nap.

So, I'm back. Maybe not as frequently as I'd like because I'm sure I'll still be somewhat tired for a while, but I'm back again!