Emma's Editorials: Christmas at Mimi's 2012

Hi there, folks.  Remember me?  Your faithful blogger?  Or...perhaps...not quite so faithful? :{  I'm so very sorry for not posting this sooner, but you would not believe how difficult it is to avoid 3 human girls between 8 and 4 when the computer you need to use is in the living room. :{  And waiting until after they went to bed didn't work, either.  Mama's been super busy doing her own computer work:  researching stuff on eBay, blogging, responding to emails and comments, paying bills online...you name it!  This is honestly the first chance I've had at the computer, and I can't take very long, because my sister Hayden is waiting to do her Christmas post once I'm done with mine.  I think Belle is going to have to wait to do her post until tomorrow...unless she plans on staying up past midnight or something. ;)

But enough with apologies and explanations...on to Christmas! :D

We spent the first day at Mimi's the way we normally do:  getting random pics around the house.  Yep, Rontu came too.  Charlie couldn't bear the thought of leaving him behind for 6 days. ;)

We always love getting pictures by the presents.  Mama has a lot of close family, so the present pile is usually pretty ginormous. :)

I love all of the festive wrapping paper.  It's too bad Hayden didn't join us...she would have loved the My Little Pony wrapping paper Mama used. ;)

And here's a shot of the whole big pile.  Can you find us?  I always feel like I'm in a "Where's Waldo" picture when we pose by the presents. ;) 

Shortly after having fun with the presents, we headed over to our favorite place:  the snack table!

Charlie was content once she'd found the Peanut M&Ms and the mini Teddy Grahams.

Rontu was busy sniffing everything and exploring.

Meanwhile, I headed straight for my favorites...

...Aunt V's fudge and gingerbread.  In this house, fudge and gingerbread are the official tastes of Christmas. :)

We didn't do much worth mentioning in the next few days, aside from visiting with our cousin Piper and all of her friends.

 

Piper was really busy most of the time we were there.  She's just like Mimi and Aunt V:  she loves baking at Christmas time. :)

Chocolate Chip, her faithful companion, was by her side constantly.  Mama rescued him from Goodwill for just 49 cents! 

It was nice to see Kailani again, and I enjoyed getting to meet her sister, Fi (pronounced "Fee", short for "Josefina").

There were several new dolls on the top shelf.  I recognized Gabby (the gymnast in the middle who looks kind of like the Olympic Gold Medalist of the same name), but I'd never met the other two.  I'm embarrassed to admit it, but we never even got a chance to introduce ourselves!  This Christmas definitely had more of a human focus than a doll one. ;)  That's okay, though.  We were just glad to get to spend Christmas with Mama.

We loved Piper's new kitchen hutch.

Her room was really cute, too.  Nahji was chilling there when we stopped by the first time.

I'm sorry we don't have pictures of us interacting with Mimi's dolls.  Honestly, most of the week, Mama kind of left us to ourselves (which was actually rather nice).  A lot of what we did wasn't really documented this year...which was apparently a theme in more places than one, as you'll see when you read Hayden's post (coming next!).

On Christmas Eve, Charlie and I couldn't sleep.  We were too excited!

We decided to sneak out to the living room and sit in front of the tree, enjoying the beautiful lights and the brightly wrapped packages.

Some moments you just want to freeze and remember forever.  This was one of them:  sitting by the tree with my sister, gazing at the warm lights and dreaming of the morning to come. :)  I'll bet there were things Mary wanted to remember forever about the first Christmas, too. :) 

In spite of our insomnia, Christmas morning finally arrived.  We had to wait to open our gifts until all of the humans opened theirs, but we didn't mind.  We sat under the tree and Mama gave us our stockings.

Charlie got two vintage-looking mini posters from "Wall-E" and a Rex toy from "Toy Story".

I got this beautiful little Lalaloopsy named Ivory Ice Crystals.  I'd never really taken notice of Lalaloopsies before this past month, but when Mama's middle daughter kept talking about how much she wanted them, I researched them and fell in love!  I'm so glad I got this one.  She was a special Christmas Lala available only at Target.  Isn't she pretty?

She also came with a blue Popsicle, a little furry pet, and a snow globe.

I discovered that her furry cape was removable, which was fun.

We got some other things, too.  Grandmama bought a big, cozy American Girl sleeping bag for all of us dolls to share (not at the same time, of course!).

Mama found these two Christmas books at Goodwill (also to share with everyone).

Grandmama also found a little picture frame (partially viewable on the left) and two ceramic mixing bowls just our size!

My last gift was very exciting.  I've been noticing lately that my eyes are getting tired when I read or use the computer, and sometimes it's hard to see the words.  Mama thought I might need glasses, but she wasn't sure when she could get them.  Well, as it turned out, Mama's brother's brother-in-law (caught that?) was the one who found out that I needed them and bought them for Mama.  Wasn't that sweet of him?  

So, ta-da!!  Here I am in my new glasses.  What do you think?

It was hard to get used to them at first, but I think I like them.  Mama said I only have to use them for reading and computer time.

What makes my glasses even more special is that Mama had to get glasses a few months ago, too.  She needed them for the same things:  reading and computer time.

I think it's cool how similar our glasses are, don't you?  Mama said that when she picked out her glasses, they reminded her of the Chocolate glasses from American Girl.  Of course, when they're right next to each other, my glasses look more black than brown, but they do have their similarities. ;)

After we finished opening our gifts, we spread out our new sleeping bag and I read "A Christmas Carol" to Charlie.  It was amazing how much easier it was to see the words with my new glasses!

I love this version because of the beautiful illustrations. :) 

There was a lot of excitement for the humans, too.  Grandmama introduced Mimi to Sicily (I hope I've gotten her name spelled right!).  Sicily was looking for a new home, and Grandmama thought Mimi's would be the perfect fit.  

I was excited to discover that Sicily had glasses just like mine! :D   I got a chance to visit with her a bit, and she seems really nice.  I think she'll fit in just fine with Piper, Kailani, and the others. :) 

The rest of the week, we were very lazy.  We played games, ate snacks, watched movies, and hung around. The humans all got hooked on the TV show "Duck Dynasty" while we were there.  Charlie thought it was hilarious (aside from a few crude comments).  I must admit, while it has its funny moments, I much prefer my Bollywood movies. ;)

One of the afternoons, we got to play around outside.  Rontu and Charlie were thrilled to be outdoors after being cooped up in the house for so long.

We all had fun exploring and rambling through the yard.  

Because the lighting was so pretty, Mama wanted to get a close up of each of us.

I wish she'd come up with more original poses for each of us instead of posing us identically, but oh well. ;)

The beautiful view from Mimi's back yard.

And that, I'm afraid, is it as far as pictures go.  The rest of our week was lovely but remained off-camera.  Now we're both home, filled with memories of our wonderful holiday but glad to be back in our own cozy little room.

And Hayden is waiting ever so patiently behind me, so I really should wrap this up.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your own families, and a Happy New Year, too.  

Oh, and I promise we'll work on getting our Christmas header and background down soon...it's so embarrassing being so far behind! :{

Talk to you later! :)

Emma's Editorials: My Trip with Mama, Day 3

To read Part 1, click HERE.  For Part 2, click HERE. :)

On our second morning, we all slept in...mainly due to the fact that the people in the room above us were awake and packing up their room at 5 in the morning.  For about 45 minutes, it sounded like elephants were tap dancing on the ceiling!!  We all fell back asleep when the flurry of activity was over, and it took a while before all of us were ready to crawl out of our beds. :}

But today was our last day, and there were places to go and things to do.  Kailani, Janie and I all got ready and then checked our reflections in the mirror.

We had to check out of the hotel this morning, so we knew that when we walked out that door, it would be the last time we'd see the room.  The three of us all turned and waved goodbye to the room, feeling a bit nostalgic.  I know, we're weird! ;)

Mama realized as we were leaving that she'd never snapped a pic of the outside of the hotel, so she took this one right before we drove away.

This was how the three of us spent most of this day, which confirmed that we had definitely made the right decision staying in the hotel the day before. :}  I think Mama, Mimi and Grandmama were on a mission to find every Goodwill in Vacaville and Sacramento!!

Thankfully, just as we were starting to starve, they decided it was time for a lunch stop.  We shared this delicious Subway sandwich.

Here I am outside of Thrift Town, a large thrift store that Mama had heard about.  It was nice, but she didn't really find any unexpected treasures here.

We were super excited to visit a Hobby Lobby for the first time (Mama and I had never been to one before), but right after Mama took this picture, Mimi noticed that they were closed on Sundays. :(  I guess we'll have to save Hobby Lobby for our next trip. ;)

This was one of the numerous Goodwills we hit on this day.  Any of you who read Mama's blog know that she loves shopping at thrift stores, and Goodwill is one of her favorites.  This one was pretty cool, but the one they shopped at right before our failed Hobby Lobby attempt was the best one.  They all found a ton of stuff there!

The last stop was at another Disney Store.  Now, I love Disney Stores almost as much as Mama, but I was exhausted by the time we got to this mall, so I decided to stay in the car.  Big mistake.  Mama told me later that this was the ultimate Disney Store!!

It had this really cool castle playhouse thing that also displayed the merchandise, more selection than the other store, and a ton of cool features.  Oh well...now I'll know for next time!

Mama came out with another big bag.  Hmm...I wonder what she bought this time? (You'll have to read Mama's blog to find out!) ;)

By the time Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama got out of the mall, we had to book it so that we could get home in time for Mama to see her daughters before bedtime.  The humans had decided that In-N-Out sounded good for dinner.

It sounded good to us, too! ;)

What was even more exciting was that there just happened to be a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in the same parking lot.  I've never been to a Krispy Kreme before.  In fact, I'd never even heard of one before.  I'll never forget them now, though!

For one thing, they have a big window so that you can watch the doughnuts being made.  First they cook in this nifty oven.

Once they're all cooked, they go on a conveyor belt that (supposedly) drains the grease. ;)

Then, after the grease has been drained, they make their way to a wall of glaze.

Here they go...

...and out they come, freshly glazed and ready to eat!

I had fun looking at all of the fancy doughnuts they had on display, but Mama assured me that the best ones would be the simple glazed doughnuts, hot and fresh off the conveyor belt. 

Janie and Kailani were really excited.  Apparently, they've eaten here before. :)

And here, Mama captured my moment of pure bliss.  If you've never had a fresh, warm Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut right off the rack when the hot light is on, you've never really had a doughnut before!  It.was.amazing!!!

Once we'd enjoyed our treats, it was time to head home.  We amused ourselves by listening to Michael Buble CDs.  I'd never heard of him before, but he's one of Mimi and Kailani's favorite singers.  I love the unique, warm tone to his voice.  I might just have to look up some of his music! ;)

The sun began to set as we made our way home.  The sky looked like rainbow sherbet. :)

At last, we were home.  I said goodbye to my new friends, hoping I'd see them again soon.  I knew the memories of this special trip would always bond us together in a special way. :)

Charlie and Hayden were waiting for me when I got inside.  

I gave them both a big hug.  As much as I'd enjoyed my trip, I had to admit that it was great to see them again, and it was great to be home.

They started asking me all sorts of questions...they wanted to know everything about my weekend!!

But I didn't even hear their questions.  The bed had been too inviting.  An explanation of my trip would have to wait for another day. ;)

I hope you all enjoyed hearing about my weekend.  I had so much fun, and it was great to be able to share it with all of you.  What's the best trip you've ever had?