Christmas Sunday

Today is the Christmas before Sunday.  We had our lovely Christmas program in church.  We had to leave after church though because Deya has a snotty nose and the rules about sick kids and nursery are pretty strict.  We got home and took a nice nap and then Ryan, Deya and I went for a freezing cold walk.  We didn't realize how cold the wind can be.  Tomorrow I think I will go buy Deya a nice pair of mittens and a winter hat.  Her little fingers were so cold and she was walking so slowly.  After our walk we had a nice steak and potato dinner and then we went and saw the lights at the washington d.c. temple.  It is really beautiful with the festival of lights.  We were going to see a concert but it was so crowded we never managed to make it in so we saw some other displays and just waited around for a bit and then we left.  Ryan is still studying hard for his exam coming up.  I really hope that he can take his test soon.  He is hoping to take it in about two weeks.  On Friday night Ryan and I decorated for the ward Christmas party.  We are part of the activities commitee.  We put up a Christmas tree on the stage and decorated it and we put decorations all over the walls in the cultural hall.  Lately Deya has been princess Geneveve off of the twelve dancing princesses and everyone else has been Derek the cobbler she falls in love with.  Now when I ask her for a kiss she says "no Derek" and gives me a coy smile  from the corner of her eye while she turns her head away.  She is a beautiful dancing princess and she won't go anywhere without a skirt on even if it is over her pants.  I put her in a pretty white sweater dress today it didn't quite work for her because it layed straight on her and wasn't puffy enough so that when she twirled it didn't really move.  So, she brought a skirt in to Ryan that she wanted to wear but he said no because she already had a dress on so she went over in the corner down the hallway and she wimpered and sniffeled like the most dramatic disney princess.  It was all so cute and fake so I just had to give in and I brought out her favorite red dress with a petticoat under the velvet skirt and bows on the top with puffed sleaves.  I said Deya would you like to wear this dress?  and she smiled and yelled "YES!"  Then all during church she danced and twirled during sacrament meeting and she talked about all of the other ladies dresses and called them princess if she thought them worthy.  I can't believe how girly Deya is.  I don't think I was ever like that.  She sure is cute.  I think that I am done with my Christmas shopping.  It is a nice feeling.  Christmas can be very stressful.  Almost everything is wrapped and ready to go.  Christmas with the Noonan family again.  I wonder where we will be next year.  

Santa

Deya has never in her life sat on the lap of Santa Claus.  This is her first experience.  She did much better than I thought she would.  She was smiling so big even though she was kind of shy.  Here is a picture.

Christmas bells are ringing

We are getting ready for Christmas here.... not really Ryan is studying and so am I.  I have a statistics exam tomorrow and Ryan's exam is coming up really soon.  I was able to get some Christmas shopping done earlier this month but I have mostly been busy with my studies.  Deya is ready...in fact I have already given her a couple of her Christmas presents.  She has already gotten the play kitchen I got her from the thrift store.  I couldn't resist, she is so happy to cook us all dinner.  She saw it in the thrift store and she knew exactly what it was.  She plays with the play kitchen at Scout and Isaak's house and in nursery every time I go to spy on her she is playing with the play kitchen there as well.  Her specialties are cottage cheese and noodles.  She is also really good to keep your drinks filled and when you ask her for some more food she exclaims "of course!"  Deya has also been referring to all of us as elephants.  It is not an insult, we are merely a family of elephants.  She likes to call herself baby elephant and if I call her Deya she will correct my mistake and make sure that I know she prefers the title baby elephant.  Ryan is of course Daddy elephant, I am Mommy elephant and sometimes I even get to be called super mommy elephant.  I love it especially at night when Deya has to say goodnight to everyone in the house it goes something like this:  "goodnight grandma elephant,  goodnight Rachael elephant, goodnight grandpa elephant, goodnight daddy elephant, goodnight super mommy elephant"  she is such a joy to have around.