A Letter from Santa

This is the first year that Portia has really cared about Santa. Last year, she was thrilled on Christmas morning, when Santa brought her presents, but other than that, she was disinterested.

This year, however, she has been talking about jolly old St. Nick non stop. We watch shows about him, we read books about him, I tell stories about him, and she has already written him a letter, and sat on his lap at the mall. 

(Yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving, but there's no changing this 4-year-old's mind.)

This morning, Portia and Margot got a letter from Santa.

Since the temperature has really dropped outside, the girls have been wanting to wear their boots from last year every day, but they have obviously grown out of them. 

Yesterday, Portia tried to put on her boots, and started to cry because she wanted to wear boots so much. I told her that if she calmed down, maybe Santa would bring her some boots for Christmas. She instantly stopped crying, but was very worried because she didn't include boots in her letter to Santa.

I told her that it would be fine, as Santa is magic, and he will know.

This morning, this note appeared from "Santa."

It says:

"Dear Portia and Margot's Mommy-

I know that Portia and Margot want boots fro Christmas, but I am worried that if I bring the boots when I come on Christmas Eve, they will be waiting too long. Those wonderful little toes will be chilly. Please take Portia and Margot to go get new boots tomorrow, on me!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Love, Santa"

So this morning, we went and got the girls some new Christmas boots!

They were so excited!

Thanks Santa!

our holidays

It's been awhile since I've been able to post; the holidays were busy for us! What's that? You wanna hear all about it? Why, I thought you'd never ask!

Rewind about a month, to about the second week of December. Can you see it? The stores were still blasting Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, camera-armed Santa Stations dotted every mall in the country, and the Rawlinsons were gearing up for our holiday travels!

First, we drove to Tulsa, to visit our parents. We stopped at my parents' house first, for the Annual O'Dell Grandkids Christmas Party. For those of you who aren't aware, there are 11 grandkids on my side of the family. As you can imagine, all of us getting together for Christmas is a little difficult. So, my mom and little sister came up with a plan. Every year, everyone joins together for one evening for some awesome kid-centered holiday fun! We decorate cookies, open gifts, look at Christmas lights, we go all out.
This year, we went bowling! The kids loved it! We then drove to Rhema to see the lights.

Carrie and I at the bowling alley. Something exciting must have been happening. Probably a strike.

 Me, Carrie, and Daisy, and the back of Margot's chubby little head.

My cute parents. 

There aren't many pictures of my kids, as they were too excited to stand still. Fun times!

Next, we headed to Brandon's parents house for a week. We celebrated Christmas early, and the girls made out like kings! They got Little People, Barbies, new jammies and outfits, and tons more. They were in heaven! This was the first Christmas that Margot was old enough to really know what was going on, so she was really excited.

Next, we drove 15 hours to LaGrange, IN to visit my extended family. It was a surprise, only my Aunt Peg knew we were coming, and she kept a really good secret! It was so much fun to visit everyone, especially since I haven't seen most of my cousins in years! Plus, my girls got to meet a whole new group of kids their age to play with! Woohoo! 

Portia, decorating cookies.

Tuckered out. Brandon and my dad.

My grandpa. I like him.

My beautiful grandmother.

Next, we drove back to my Daisy-sister's house. She and her husband have been married for 15 years, and to celebrate, flew to Paris and London for 9 days. We watched their kids and house-sat while they were away. They had a blast, and got to do this:

which was very important.

After that, we drove back to Tulsa, where we relaxed for a few days, then drove to my Jeannine-sister's house for a night, where we relaxed some more!

At this point, we had been away from home for a month, so away we went! 

It was so fun and exciting to travel all over, but boy is it good to be home!

See what I mean?

Pure terror.

I love Christmas break!

We are in Claremore visiting Brandon's parents this week. It's awesome.
I slept in this morning, then we hung around the house for a few hours, no stress!
Tonight, we went to Bass Pro Shop to take pictures of the girls with Santa. It was hilarious. Portia was close to tears the whole time, terrified of Santa. Margot was ok until she saw that Portia was nervous, then she started to tear up too! Goobers.
After visiting the North Pole, we went to dinner, where Margot ate as much as a full grown man, and Portia spent the whole time worrying about weather or not we were going to steal her mac-n-cheese. Portia was cracking me up at dinner. She had to go potty at one point, and here's our conversation while in the restroom:

Portia: Ok mommy. Go potty.
Me: I don't need to go potty.
Portia: Oh yeah, I need to go potty.
Portia: Mom, no body gets to eat my mac-n-cheese. You potato-head.

What a silly kid.
We ate till we couldn't eat anymore, and headed back home. The girls stayed home with Grammy and Papa, and Brandon and I went to the store. By ourselves! When you're a parent, this is a huge deal.
What a good day!