Christmas Joys!

This Christmas has to go down as the best one yet (I'm sure I'll be thinking that every year!). I say that because at almost 3 1/2 years old, Kalissa now has a pretty good grasp of the concept of Christmas. Between what her school teaches and what we teach her, she knows that Christmas is all about "when baby Jeejus was born". We've made a conscious decision to bring her up with the true meaning of Christmas as the focus and not toys. Therefore, Christmas started with our family tradition of attending church services on Christmas Eve.

When we got home, Daddy fried up some chicken wings and we had a very late dinner but that was kind of by design because we wanted to sleep in Christmas morning! The plan worked like a charm because we didn't wake up until after 8:00 am and Kalissa was still sleeping! We had to go wake her up and tell her it was time to open gifts. She does NOT like to be woken up and Christmas morning was no exception!

I popped in The Temptations Christmas CD and before long, Kali's frown turned upside down and the kids were ready to open their presents.  They each started with their stocking stuffers which contained silly, but useful, little things like spin toothbrushes, hand sanitizer, fuzzy socks, etc.

Then we all took turns opening our gifts. 

The funniest moment was when Qiana discovered that we actually bought her what she had wanted:  a Kindle Fire.  We had told her that they were too expensive and maybe she should play with Kalissa's LeapPad to see if she like it since they are much cheaper.  Funny thing is, she agreed to go with the LeapPad!  *lol*

Daddy made breakfast and then at about 2:00 pm, I got busy cooking Christmas dinner.  At Qiana's request, we had meatloaf (she loves my meatloaf -- because of the sweet glaze!) with mac&cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans and dressing.  I finished cooking at 6:00 and we sat down to an amazing dinner, if I do say so myself!  I incorporated a tip I had found online for my mac&cheese and it turned out to make a world of difference...and turned out to be the best batch I've ever made!

Ahhhh....Christmas Joys!

In other year-end news, I officially marked my 6-month relaxer-free semi-anniversary with a final chop of my crowning glory! I told my stylist to take off any remaining relaxer so that I could start 2013 as a natural girl with my babygirl. The result....SUPER short hair!! I like it a lot but am anxious to get going with the grow out phase. 

2013 here we come!!