Merry (Early) Christmas

Santa heard through the grapevine that we were going to be out of town for Christmas, so he decided to visit our house early! What a thoughtful guy.

(This is a picture of a picture, so sorry about the poor quality). This was Natalie's first non-crying Santa experience. You can see she was nervous -- shoulders tensed up, hands ready to stave off any attackers, and fake/anxious smile. But she did it! And she was so proud of herself. She told Santa she wanted ponies and a Dora movie. I had heard her mention ponies before, but the Dora movie was a surprise to me. Fortunately, Santa happened to actually have a Dora movie on hand, ready to deliver! So that worked out well. After we were finished sitting on Santa's lap and were waiting to get our picture printed, Natalie was upset because she had forgotten that Santa brings the goods to your house. She thought she was getting her toys on the spot. Poor thing!
Here's the stash Santa left. He was stingy this year, but Natalie didn't care one bit.
Here's a view of our beautiful tree that I loved. Sadly, it has since been undecorated, boxed up, and returned to the store because the lights on top quit working. Brad spent time checking fuses, connections, and bulbs, to no avail. We just got a defective tree, apparently. Oh well, we'll try again next year!
Natalie coming down the stairs on "Christmas" morning. I can smell the anticipation!
The first thing out of her mouth when she got downstairs and saw her toys was "Is that a Dora movie?!"
And ponies!!
My parents had Natalie's gift sent to our house ahead of time since it was big. Glad we didn't have to haul it from Houston back to New Jersey! Brad and I spent an hour assembling it the night before (fireside, no less), and it did not disappoint. She LOVES it! No human residents yet, so she used her ponies. Good thinking, Natalie!