Christmas 2011. The perfect Christmas??

Okay, we did have a "rough" start to the Christmas weekend, but despite all of that, it turned out really nice.

 The girls were thrilled to watch the process of the septic tank being pumped out. After I got over the fact that we had to dish out cash that I really didn't want to, I couldn't help but get a case of the giggles. The girls complained about how gross it was...but yet they chose to sit right there and watch/smell it all. I was content to watch from a distance. ;-)

 We spent Christmas Eve with Sweet Man's sweet family, and enjoyed an afternoon of food and fellowship.

 We came home and prepared the "sleepover" spot, and read the Christmas story.

 All tucked in and ready to watch Miracle on 34th street.

 We didn't get snow this year for Christmas, but we pretended. See our snowflakes?

Christmas morning we had a lovely breakfast with too much food, with my parents and my Dad's sister. Wait. Did I say too much food? Not really sure if that's possible. ;-)

 Sweet little hats for sweet little girls, given to them by my Sweet Aunt.

Every cowgirl needs a pony in the house. This is where Sweet Man pipes up and says, "FOR REAL!!??"..."No, Sweet Man not for real...FuRreal!" Thanks Mom and Dad. This gift was a hit for sure!

 This pony has been letting the girls practice all kinds of things: riding backwards, lassoing, shooting "wild dogs" with their pop guns, and with the help of Junior Mints and a pitch fork...stall maintenance. ;-)

 Princess #1 was able to play a few Christmas Carols for us.

 Probably should have fixed the girls hair that morning...:-o

 And mine. ;-)

 Sweet Man giving cart rides through the house with Princess #1's big surprise. Sweet Man got this for her to help in her barn chores. I must say I was a little envious. It's a dump cart! I just might have to borrow this from time to time. 

 I received the most darling tea cup and plate from my mom. 

After a fun filled morning with my family, we spent the afternoon setting up train tracks, playing board games,

Trying out all of the new arts and crafts,

 And doing pony rides.

I realized something two days before Christmas, right after my little meltdown, I was trying too hard to make this the perfect Christmas. I was wearing myself out, and it seemed like my attempts were failing. I decided to just sit back and let the peace and joy of the day happen. Did I say peace? Well, there were still sibling fights, stinky dogs, dirty windows, a broken furnace, mud surrounding the house that you could not only loose a boot in, but perhaps even a small dog or child, and a to do list that was a little too long. But you know what? It turned out just fine. We had a wonderful day and made some wonderful memories. We were able to flush the potty without fear of "it" showing up somewhere that "it" shouldn't. That was pretty awesome!

 One of the things that surprised me the most was how sweet the girls were with their gifts to each other. They loved them, even though they couldn't figure out what they were half of the time. They were so sweet to each other and kept saying thank you and that they loved this "little piece of fabric", or that hand drawn picture of ??. It really did bring tears to my eyes, and made me realize where all my craft supplies have been going...LOL  Was it a "perfect" day....not really, but it was lovely and I am beginning to realize that perfect does not always mean lovely.