The QUINNtessential Mommy: Christmas Recap

Christmas 2012 was so very special for our family! Gia is at a really fun age this year and the magic of Christmas was alive and well in our house. Although she was a little scared of Santa, she was certainly excited to hear that when she was asleep Santa would come and leave her presents. On Christmas Eve we went to my in-laws for a traditional Italian fish dinner. Gia had so much fun playing with her cousins and opening a ton of presents!

Cheese faces


She said "wooooow!" with each present. Here's the wow face!

We came home and put on our pjs. (Dee-jamas as Gia says.) Then we put out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

As soon as Gia went to bed it started to snow. It was a beautiful night and Jon and I sat by the fire and opened our gifts. I got an iPad from Jon and a photoline from Gia so that I can display her artwork in an attractive way. I gave Jon 3 pairs of his favorite sweatpants and a Brita water pitcher. (He's hard to buy for, ok?) Gia got him new slippers. (His old ones went in the garbage during our potty training days. Enough said.) On Christmas morning, Gia woke up at 7, which is late for her (thank you sweet baby for letting us sleep a little bit). She was very excited to go downstairs to see if Santa came.

She was shocked when she saw all this:

She was SO excited about the kitchen.

She played with the kitchen for a while before she opened the rest of her presents.

Before Christmas, I asked Gia several times what she wanted Santa to bring her. Every single time she'd tell me she wanted a donkey. Yes, a donkey. Some days it was a real donkey and other days it was a purple donkey. I searched high and low for a purple donkey and found a gorgeous one on Etsy for $65. The order time was 5 weeks, so that was out. Instead I got her a small stuffed donkey and a book called The Wonkey Donkey. When she opened the donkey on Christmas morning she thought it was a baby horsey. I just about died laughing. After all that talk about a donkey she didn't even realize she got one. Once she realized what he was, she was thrilled and hugged him immediately.