Christmas at home

I'm not totally sure where Hope got the idea, though I suspect a book, but she was under the impression that snow=Christmas. Imagine her disappointment when I told her that no, just because we had tons of snow, it wasn't Christmas yet. Next year we'll have to get an Advent calendar, but this had to suffice for this year.

I crossed off the first several days, all the while explaining to Hope that we'd cross off a day before bed every night and that when we got to the big circle, THEN it would be Christmas. She really seemed to get it, and it was one of those simple, sweet, toddler moments I don't think I'll forget. She had fun crossing off the rest of the days :)

When Christmas finally did arrive, we had a little while to make faces with Grant before Hope woke up. I wonder how many more years we have of her sleeping until 8 on Christmas morning?

She was definitely excited about opening presents once we told her it was ~finally~ time. But she didn't react the way I expected her to.

After finding princess bubble bath in her stocking, she really didn't care about opening the rest of her gifts. She just wanted to go take a bath and save the rest of the gifts for later. We practically had to sell her on opening some more.

She was happy to get Hungry, Hungry, Hippos - the one thing she'd mention by name if you asked her what she wanted for Christmas. But even after some initial hippo fun, she still just wanted to take a bath! Who'd have thought a $2 gift would be her favorite?

Well, she got her bubble bath, and it turned out to be a convenient way to get her changed into her Christmas pajamas so we could work on a family photo ...

We took a ton, and none of them were great, but it was fun trying. And, yes, Hope is posing with paintbrushes. She insisted.

Later in the day Hope and Daddy enjoyed the orange juice popsicles they made in her new popsicle mold. She's had one everyday since. Bubble bath and popsicles ... the girl's got simple tastes.