I hope you all had a great holiday.

I hope every one had a great holiday, whichever one they celebrated.  I apologize for the lack of posting.  I took vacation from my fulltime job last week and then had some internet trouble so there wasn't much of a chance to blog.

Bean enjoyed Christmas once she woke up.  We had to wake her up so that she could open her presents before we headed out on the road to the Great-Grandparents' house.  She kept saying "No Daddy!".  She didn't want to be bothered.  I'm sure that will be the last time that happens on a Christmas morning for many years to come.  But she perked up once she got into the living room and saw all the presents around the tree.  She wanted to take time after each present to bond with her new toy but we had to just keep plopping new ones in front of her. 

Santa brought her her very own "bike". 

It's an Elmo tricycle and no, she can't quite reach the pedals.  *Note to all the toddler parents out there - while the Elmo tricycle is cute, it has a button on the handlebars that you can push and Elmo will sing you a song.  The manufacturers must have a sick sense of humor cause there is no volume control on this lovely feature and it is the loudest, nerve-grating, sing-songey thing you've ever heard.  Stick with Radio Flyer.  There's no such button there. 

She also got another new doll.  (Too bad I can't file for Social Security numbers for all these new "dependents".)  She got a wagon filled with blocks.  The blocks are all over the floor in her room, the living room and our bedroom, and the wagon is still sitting in front of the tree. Don't know why the blocks can't live in the wagon that they came with but evidently there's some sort of domestic dispute going on there and they have to camp out wherever the Bean drops them.

But I think Bean's favorite new toys are the least expensive ones we Santa got her.  She has spent the most time playing with a $5 doll stroller I got at a friend's yard sale a few months ago and a make-up bag filled with chapsticks.  She loves grabbing her make-up bag under one arm, tossing a doll in the stroller, usually upside down, and pushing it all over the house.  She especially loves pushing it right up behind me while I'm standing at the stove because the floor show Mommy puts on when she turns around and starts to fall over the stroller, doll and all is the most exciting one she's seen in a long time.  She hasn't had that much fun since watching our lab chase his own tail round and round. 

We had a great time watching Bean enjoy her Christmas.  It wasn't her first but really the first time she's gotten into it all.  I did find myself feeling very melancholy over the holiday because this time of year always makes me miss my own Mom and Dad so much.  I am grateful for the family I've married into but I wished my own was here to see Bean and share in the joy of the season with me. 

So now it's almost time to take down the tree, ring in another New Year, and relocate the blocks to the wagon.  I'm tired already!

Merry Belated Christmas!