We spent last night with my in-laws, exchanging gifts for the children and having a delicious lasagna dinner. This year was the first year we had lasagna and it was a nice change from the ham we usually have (I’m not a ham fan).
When we got home, Violet headed to bed and Scott started assembly on the play kitchen that Santa brought for her. I guess Santa needs to start bringing gifts that are already assembled, because Scott said he stayed up until 3am putting this together. Fortunately, it was well received.
I knew he was still up late because Violet woke up around midnight and since I’m still coughing a bit from my pneumonia, Scott’s been sleeping in the guest room, so I brought her in to our bed with me and the lights were still on downstairs.
Violet woke about 7am and asked me to go get her piggy, which I did, and then we both tossed and turned for a while until she decided she was ready to get up. She got dressed and then down to open up gifts. She had a blast – and loved every last thing she got. Thank you to Auntie Lisa & Auntie Hollie for your special gifts for her, too!
We headed out around 10am for the Denver Zoo. The zoo is open 365 days a year, and while I have blogged before about how not really a zoo fan, Violet loves animals and I knew it wouldn’t be too busy today. I was right.
We had the zoo almost to ourselves. It was great! Like an idiot, I forgot my zoom lens for my camera, so I had to make due with my kit lens, but it was a great day to see animals. Most all of them were out and we didn’t have to wait turns to see them or try to see around the bigger kids. While I often am sad that I don’t get to see my family at Christmas, and that we just spend the day by ourselves, deciding to come to the zoo was a great idea and something we couldn’t have done if we had other plans.
We came home after a stop at Starbucks (THANK YOU, to all of you who had to work today!) and napped for a short while. After our naps we talked to my dad and his family on Face Time, and then had a pretty simple dinner of turkey breast, mashed sweet potatoes and turkey dressing.
We just exchanged small gifts between Scott and myself because we bought a Blu Ray player right after Thanksgiving, and are planning to buy a LED TV for our bedroom after Christmas (using gift cards we got from family & friends and paying for the rest ourselves).
The cats were happy with their catnip stockings, Violet loved her gifts, and I’m getting ready to go to bed with another Christmas in the books, content and blessed.
Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!
About Katie
I’m so glad to hear that you all had a wonderful Christmas! Violet looks like she’s having alot of fun with her toys! Merry Christmas to you and thanks for stopping by today!
What a great idea to go to the zoo as a family. This is the first year that I spent Christmas as a small family unit and not with my family as well. It was great, but also a little sad. I think my family took it harder than I did. I did love making breakfast and staying in our pj’s all day. I hope you have a wonderful New Year!