Life and Times of the Murphy Five: Christmas Festivities 2011

We started our Christmas Festivities on the 23rd celebrating Grandpa Denny's 60th birthday. Aunt Libby and Uncle David arrived in town to help us all celebrate Grandpa Denny and Christmas. Riley LOVED playing with them both and Harper snuggled with Aunt Libby quite a bit. We had a great lobster dinner and both girls were soo good. We headed home and Riley insisted that she sleep on her blow-up (air mattress) bed. The week leading up to Christmas she talked about sleeping on the blow-up bed so that Aunt Libby and Uncle David could sleep in her bed. While Libby and David slept in the basement, Riley was still excited to be able to sleep on her blow up bed. She slept great, while Harper was up several times through the night. Mix teething with an awkward bedtime routine and she was restless through much of the night.

On Christmas Eve I finished up some last minute shopping and picked up a few groceries while Brett and the girls stayed home to play with Libby and David. Christmas Eve night we headed to church to watch my cousin, Jill, play the violin. Riley was super excited to run into Miss Sue. Miss Sue helped out at Hedy's for a few months and Riley really liked her. Both girls did great through church. Toward the end of the service Harper was a little restless and we spent some time outside. We went home, ate dinner, and set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Riley went to bed with so much excitement for Santa to come.

Christmas morning Harper and Riley both woke up around 7. It took Riley a minute to remember that Santa was supposed to come. So while we waited in bed for milk, Daddy ran downstairs to get the video camera. Riley was still so certain that Santa was going to bring her a bouncy house. We crept down the stairs and into the living room where Santa had left both girls a few presents and a stocking full of goodies. Riley ran up to her new bouncy house, screamed and hugged the box. She was so excited and amazed that Santa really did come. Here is a quick rundown of the rest of the day:

Santa left the girls a new sled, bouncy house, new socks, a pair of shoes for Riley, books, and a new walker for Harper. We opened the girls' stockings which were filled with fun goodies - new cups, silverware, hair clippies, chapstick, bath toys, etc . A tradition Santa decided to carry on from me: a huge orange in the bottom of the stocking. Riley found it and said "no, silly Santa. You don't give me an orange." This was replayed several times throughout the day.
Riley had a look of amazement when she saw that Santa ate his cookies and milk. When she looked outside for the carrots she saw that they were gone and clapped as hard as I've ever seen. She then went on to say " but Rudolph doesn't like carrots. He tried them and went 'blah' and spit them back out." No idea where that came from.
Some favorite gifts from mom and dad: Riley - new camera, playdoh, Harper - taggie blanket, toys that make noise.
Riley's gift to Mom: snuggie ("you love it mom, don't you? Yeah, me too!") and a purple fringe purse - Brett pointed out this was a $4 purchase that she just had to get. Both items picked out by herself.
Riley's gift to Dad: a new wallet. She had a little help from Mom. She was on the hunt for some new pjs, but Brett has expressed that he has way too many pajama pants so we looked for something else.
New favorite toy for Dad: a Kurig and panini press.
New favorite toy for Mom: clothes, new coach purse, corning ware.
The Murphy's came over for mimosas, cinnamon rolls, breakfast casserole and presents.
Riley screamed at the top of her lungs and hugged almost every gift that she received. Favorite: scooter from Aunt Libby and Uncle David (double scream) and basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa.
Harper slept through all of the gift opening. She received some more toys and some really cute clothes...even her first pair of (faux) leather pants from Aunt Libby!
Burch Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's: Prime rib, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, baked beans, and pie for lunch. So good! Once again Harper slept through all of the gift giving. Poor baby missed out on all the fun. Riley's Favorite: Tinkerbell slippers, easel.
After the afternoon with the Burch's we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Murphy's for dinner. We were all pooped and headed home after another great meal.

Overall, we had a great Christmas. Because Harper slept through most of the gift opening I feel like I don't have many pictures of her first Christmas, which makes me a little sad. Here are a few of the pics that I did get: