Olga's First American Christmas

My eight year old tried to start Christmas Day out at 2:35 in the morning, but I told him it was a wee bit too early.  It was a rocky night for everyone sleep wise, but we got up around 6:00am (I think) and the unwrapping frenzy began.  The night before I had a conversation with Olga to try to give her an idea of what to expect on Christmas morning.  I knew it would be chaotic and loud and I didn't want her to be overwhelmed.  She seemed in awe of what I was telling her.  She handled everything beautifully in the chaos and craziness of gift unwrapping.  We don't sit around and hand each other gifts.  We let the kids open what they what and in whatever order they desire so it seems like a bit of a free-for-all.  One of the gifts to all three kids was "Just Dance 2" for Wii.  I think she has already logged about 12 dancing hours using it.  :)  She also received one new outfit including earrings and necklace and a gift basket from Bath & Body Works.  Shortly after gift opening was finished she made a bee-line for the shower and came down afterwards decked out in her new outfit and smelling like a rose.  Okay, it wasn't really like a rose, but you know what I mean.

Then the cooking frenzy began.  It's an all day cooking event for a 20 minute meal, but it is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.    It was wonderful to have friends and family over to help us celebrate Christmas.  Olga got to meet her Grammy (Jeff's mom), Uncle Greg and her cousin Geoffry for the first time.  And to top it all off we were able to experience the first white Christmas this area has seen in over 100 years!  The kids got to make a snowman, too.  It was nothing in comparison to Ukrainian snowfall, but for us Georgians it may as well have been a blizzard!  It was a true blessing for all of us.

We have three weeks left until Olga returns to Ukraine, and five weeks until Jeff and I travel to Kiev for our SDA appointment.  At some point I am going to have to get organized for extended travel!  But for now I continue to procrastinate.  :)  My sister and brother-in-law gave Jeff and I "travel sheets" for our trip which was something I was going to look into, so I can check that off my list.  I wonder what my chances are that someone else will organize everything we will need for me?  I probably shouldn't hold my breath, huh?

I hope everyone had a wonderful and special day yesterday.  I know I did!

S~