Christmas

Santa came to our house on Thursday night, so we opened gifts Friday morning.  Tessa was so excited that Santa had came - even if it meant that Pepper Mint had to go back to the North Pole.  She still talks about Pepper Mint and says, "Pepper Mint talk to Santa."  I guess that is her way of making sense of the fact that Pepper Mint had to leave until next winter. 

Tessa loved ripping the wrap on the gifts.  She was very serious about making sure that every last piece of paper was removed from the gift.  So, it took us awhile to get everything opened.  Needless to say, Tessa was on the "nice list" this year.

Chef Tessa

Tessa really enjoyed just opening gifts.  She didn't care whose gifts they were.  She really liked all of her gifts, but her favorite from Santa seems to be her new doll house.  After we had breakfast (monkey bread - YUM!) we packed up and headed to Bloomington to spend the next few days with GiGi and Aunt Brihta.  Brihta hadn't seem Tessa in almost a year!  Christmas is always on Christmas Eve in Bloomington.  So, on Friday Tessa got to open two gifts.  Then Saturday morning, we opened the rest of the gifts.  Later that night we went to church with GiGi and had dinner before heading to Ottawa.

Christmas in Ottawa is always on Christmas afternoon.  Tessa was super excited to see cousins.  After we had lunch it was time to open gifts.  Tessa was really patient waiting for her cousins to open their gifts since we all take turns opening gifts - youngest to oldest.  She loved all of her gifts and had a great Christmas weekend, but I do think that she was happy to get home and sleep in her own bed just like we were.

Christmas is so much fun.  I just wish we didn't have to try to pack so much into only a few days.