Just the two of us, plus a hospital visit.
I can’t lie, I was super frustrated on Christmas Eve when my kiddo wouldn’t sleep. She finally drifted off at 11pm. We were almost there so many times, but a cat would jump on the bed, or make some noise, and she’d be back up again! She had absolutely NO idea that there would be presents under the tree in the morning. She woke up at 8am whining about wanting to play with my phone. I was like, come on, come on, let’s go out, it’s Christmas morning! This is the first time EVER that I have had to get her out of bed, instead of the other way around!
Needless to say, her mind was pretty blown when I carried her out and she saw all the toys and presents. She dropped her jaw and just pointed at everything! Then she went right for the castle and started playing with it. Since my grandma is in the hospital, my mom was staying with my grandpa. She ran down for a few minutes to watch M open presents, but then had to go right back (my grandpa was asleep but when awake he might wander out of the house). Unfortunately, this meant we had to encourage M not to play with whatever she just opened and keep opening. I really didn’t want to do it that way!
M’s very favorite gift was the discovery hatching dinosaur eggs. We put them in water and she waited and watched until we left for the hospital. When we got back, some had cracked! She carried the bowl of water with the eggs everywhere, and jumped up and down as they started opening, squealing. Later they started hatching out and M tried so hard but just couldn’t wait another minute, and ended up pulling them out the rest of the way. Then she carried them around, her “babies”, for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, whatever they’re made of was not durable, because later in the bath she pulled too hard and two of them started breaking apart. Very sad! That was the end of “Long Neck” and “Dragon”. “Spike” is still in one piece but I might just throw them all away now… they are pretty gross and sticky.
In the evening we called Cindy, her birth mom. It’s the first time we’ve spoken to her since last Christmas. Of course, M can talk a lot more now, so she was able to talk about her presents and carry on a sort of conversation. M called her “mama Cindy” which is what I call her to M, and said “I love you, too” and “I miss you, too” which I think made Cindy very happy. During the night, however, M woke up twice sobbing and kicking me, saying “I don’t want you!” This time she said she wanted my mom, and my mom had to come in and lay with us for a minute. Then M kicked her out!
We spent the day at the hospital, and also at a park (it was 50 degrees and sunny, so crazy). M sang Jingle Bells in the car, and we ate a leftover turkey dinner, just the two of us, while watching Jurassic Park. I was kind of lonely, I miss the big lively gatherings that you think of during the holidays. But in the end, I was still really happy, light years happier than I would’ve been pre-motherhood. I love being with my daughter, playing with her and being her mom!
Merry Christmas everyone! I loved reading about all of your different celebrations 🙂
Mother of All Things 
What a day! You girls got a lot done in just one day. M’s gifts are awesome!
It’s remarkable to me that even a phone call would bring about some emotional repercussions. You’re such a good mom to always put M first.