After the disappointing complacency of Rachel's 3rd birthday (Again, thank you mom for helping to make it so special!) I didn't want to slight Christmas too. Right before we moved we went to Sam's Club and it's the first time I heard Rachel acknowledge Christmas. She saw a tree and excitedly exclaimed "Look! A Christmas!" For the next few weeks anything Christmas related (Santa, lights, reindeer, trees) were described as a "Christmas". Due to the move I didn't put out any Christmas decorations. We spent about a week down at the new house getting ourselves settled in. Moving, cleaning, painting. It was exhausting. And poor Rachel there weren't a lot of toys there as we left her down there a week early without planning. Considering all the activities and changes she did SO well. Her Grandma did a great job keeping her entertained while Jason and I tried to get the house in order.
For Christmas we got a REAL tree, something I've never done. Since we waited until the 23rd to get it, we got a great deal and surprising got a gorgeous tree! Rachel loved it. She kept trying to open the presents we'd placed under the tree.....that weren't hers!
I tried to explain Santa and on Christmas eve put her to bed with promises of presents in the morning. I don't think she really believed me. But the next morning there were presents under the tree and she was so excited!
Let me interrupt here and explain the fiasco with the presents this year. Jason and I waited until about a week or a week and a half before Christmas to decide we were going to get her some toys. Inwardly I cringed. We're already overflowing with toys and I don't want to move all of them. Adding more? It's a little overwhelming for me. But he had done some research and really wanted to get her a castle with dolls to play with. So we picked out the castle and it wouldn't arrive until close to Christmas when we'd already be gone. I had it sent to Newburgh. The dolls and the furniture I had sent here and most of those arrived before we left. One, however, didn't. I had one of Jason's cousins bring that down with him later.
We get to Newburgh and the castle was supposed to arrive the Friday before Christmas. According to UPS it was delivered, yet we didn't see it anywhere. Then Howell told me that I've been sending mail to the wrong address for 10 years. He felt so bad. He should have said something sooner but he said that the mail always arrived so he didn't think anything of it. I decided we'd just wait until after Christmas to track the package down.
Turns out while out and about Geri wanted to stop at a toy store and Jason went in with her while I waited with Rachel in the car. Jason found a castle similar to the one we had ordered online and I lost so he got her one to make sure she at least had something to open. He also got her a huge pirate ship.
Back to opening presents. Rachel opens the castle we got her and didn't want to open anything else. Seriously, she was so excited about the castle she was annoyed when we told her there were more presents to open. She loved the castle.
A few days after Christmas (Friday, in fact) I finally called UPS and tracked down her other Castle. Thankfully, Jason hadn't bought the same one twice. It was delivered to a house just down the street and they hadn't returned it yet. So she came out with 2 castles, 2 sets of dolls, 1 set of furniture and a huge pirate ship. Needless to say, she was kept plenty busy! Her Aunt Heather also gave her a puzzle that she loves putting together.
Here's a few photos from Christmas (there were probably hundreds taken):
It came together and was a wonderful Christmas!
So sorry for the brevity, I have a lot of stories to catch up on!
For Christmas we got a REAL tree, something I've never done. Since we waited until the 23rd to get it, we got a great deal and surprising got a gorgeous tree! Rachel loved it. She kept trying to open the presents we'd placed under the tree.....that weren't hers!
I tried to explain Santa and on Christmas eve put her to bed with promises of presents in the morning. I don't think she really believed me. But the next morning there were presents under the tree and she was so excited!
Let me interrupt here and explain the fiasco with the presents this year. Jason and I waited until about a week or a week and a half before Christmas to decide we were going to get her some toys. Inwardly I cringed. We're already overflowing with toys and I don't want to move all of them. Adding more? It's a little overwhelming for me. But he had done some research and really wanted to get her a castle with dolls to play with. So we picked out the castle and it wouldn't arrive until close to Christmas when we'd already be gone. I had it sent to Newburgh. The dolls and the furniture I had sent here and most of those arrived before we left. One, however, didn't. I had one of Jason's cousins bring that down with him later.
We get to Newburgh and the castle was supposed to arrive the Friday before Christmas. According to UPS it was delivered, yet we didn't see it anywhere. Then Howell told me that I've been sending mail to the wrong address for 10 years. He felt so bad. He should have said something sooner but he said that the mail always arrived so he didn't think anything of it. I decided we'd just wait until after Christmas to track the package down.
Turns out while out and about Geri wanted to stop at a toy store and Jason went in with her while I waited with Rachel in the car. Jason found a castle similar to the one we had ordered online and I lost so he got her one to make sure she at least had something to open. He also got her a huge pirate ship.
Back to opening presents. Rachel opens the castle we got her and didn't want to open anything else. Seriously, she was so excited about the castle she was annoyed when we told her there were more presents to open. She loved the castle.
A few days after Christmas (Friday, in fact) I finally called UPS and tracked down her other Castle. Thankfully, Jason hadn't bought the same one twice. It was delivered to a house just down the street and they hadn't returned it yet. So she came out with 2 castles, 2 sets of dolls, 1 set of furniture and a huge pirate ship. Needless to say, she was kept plenty busy! Her Aunt Heather also gave her a puzzle that she loves putting together.
Here's a few photos from Christmas (there were probably hundreds taken):
It came together and was a wonderful Christmas!
So sorry for the brevity, I have a lot of stories to catch up on!
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