our day...in words and pictures

I know, I know. I've been MIA. I've been uber-busy gearing up for the holiday. I'll catch you all up later, but here's the rundown.

5AM, M and I can't sleep. He finishes watching A Christmas Carol while I make monkey bread muffins and coffee...and all the makings of the cornbread dressing.

630AM, Otis begs for molasses butter that I prepared for the turkey.

7AM, we anxiously wait for S to wake up as we sit on the kitchen counter and sip our coffee.

730AM, S wakes up. Aunt Mel, Uncle Bret, and Granddaddy show up. We bring the little one downstairs as she asks for a piece of chocolate.

731AM, S starts running in place ala Chris Farley in Tommy Boy when she sees the easel that Santa left her. She immediately grabs the coloring pencils and starts naming colors and drawing.

735AM, we start begging her to open a gift. She obliges us by opening her Fancy Nancy doll. That was a mistake. We should've saved it for last.

736AM, Fancy Nancy achieves an X rating as S strips her of her clothes.

737AM+, S humors us every few minutes by opening a gift. She really likes the stockings as they are full of stickers and suckers and My Little Ponies. (Stockings...yep, it's plural. One from Santa, one from Aunt Mel, and I think another on the way.) I'll give a complete list of her new library (because she got awesome books) tomorrow.

9AM, turkey goes in the oven. I work on assembling the aforementioned dressing ingredients.

10AM, the Ouisers head out for the Christmas morning walk. We say hello to the Spencers. We head to Aunt Mel's and eat sausage casserole and eggs.

1130AM, we head home and realize that my dad and fam are already here. Oops. I have not showered. Luckily, M and S are presentable. I am forgiven because my house smells like deliciousness.

1215PM, more gifts. S loves, and I mean loves, her new Cabbage Patch doll Fannie.

1PM, S goes upstairs for nappers.

130PM, lunch is served. Turkey with molasses butter, cornbread dressing, cranberries, sweet peas, mashed potatoes, and yeast rolls. Followed by mounds cake, caramel pecan pie, and orange date cake. I am likely to need new pants tomorrow.

4PM, S finally falls asleep.

430PM, I finally get to shower.

5PM, S wakes up screaming. I rock her for 15 minutes, which leads to my current state of being snot and drool covered. So much for showers and clean clothes.

530PM, S realizes that the Advent Calendar is gone, and she loses it. M holds her for ten minutes trying to calm her down. She only calms herself when we turn on Sleeping Beauty. She and M are on the couch now with apple juice and grapes.

6PM, you're looking at it. I'm thinking about hitting the leftover pie.
And here was her favorite activity last night at Aunt Mel's.