Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve:

Butter tarts, baked.  Cookies, delivered to neighbours.  Gifts, wrapped.  Ham steaks with pineapple sauce, eaten.  Sticky buns, prep'd and in the fridge.  Carols, sung.  T'was the Night Before Christmas, read.  Two sweet little boys, showered and in bed.

Eliot has been excited for Christmas Day for some time now, mainly because he knew that on Christmas Day we would be bringing out the plum pudding which he has been anxious to try.  However, on the morning of the 25th when Eliot and Peter awoke, at their normally scheduled 6:00 am, and walked out into the living room, the plum pudding was completely forgotten.  Santa had arrived!  He'd filled their stockings and left a pool noodle for each of them.  He brought them a little table with chairs, which those clever elves had made to look just like the ones at Ikea.  And he brought them each there very own White Bear from the White Bear Store (craft store).  "I am so happy!"  Eliot exclaimed.  I also overheard him saying, "I love you White Bear."

Peter got right on board with the program.  This year he had no trouble unwrapping his presents and was delighted with his new books, taking a break from the gift opening to have a read.

Helping Daddy figure out the rules to his new board game.

Both boys enjoyed getting in some train time with some new pieces from Uncle Hugo's stash.

Today was the first of several very hot days coming our way, so I decided to keep things simple for Christmas dinner.  Eating a heavy meal, let alone cooking a heavy meal, in this heat wasn't going to add to anyone's Christmas cheer.  Besides, it gave us more time at the beach!

Eliot and I took to the water for a swim.  We're the ones in the middle.  You can't miss us because Eliot's the one in the bright yellow life vest and I'm crouched down beside him.  He loved it, even though the water was saltier than potato chips.

We stopped for ice cream on the way home.

I love how involved Eliot got this year.  He got very excited about taking cookies to our neighbours and had fun wishing them a Merry Christmas.  And it was a very Merry Christmas.  Hope yours was as well!

PS  Here's the plum pudding that Eliot was so excited about.  We bought it at the grocery store earlier in the week, so all we had to do was steam it, pour on the sauce and plop on the cherry.  Easiest Christmas dinner dessert I've ever made.