The Rest of Christmas!

Christmas Eve we had dinner with friends after I returned from the orphanage. We were given way too many gifts and could barely haul it all back home, but we certainly enjoyed them! Abbey got a robe, darling kimono pj's, a roll of art paper,a Snow White book, and her favorite...a little toy MP3 that hangs on a pearl necklace. I got a very hip new red bag, a robe, earrings, tank top, CD's...wow, very fun. We all decided to go Christmas caroling and shock the neighbors. They really didn't know what hit them. We went through 3 apartment buildings in our complex singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas and giving each family the most Special book. They were trying to give us oranges and candy and bowing...although some were a little scared. It was really fun, and Heidi's violin and Emily's Christmas candle made it even more special.
The next day Abbey and Olivia awoke to find that stockings and gifts had appeared under our tree. They were so delighted with each little thing and immediately wanted to do a special Snow White sand craft they had gotten. I don't know if they have these in the US, but they are so great. You peel off a section at a time and then there is a sticky area that you pour colored sand on. So we spent about 45 minutes doing that. Then Abbey opened up stickers and spent another 30 minutes playing with those.

And so it went, she would open a small gift and play with it for a long time, by lunch and naptime she still had lots of gifts unopened. I have a 3 gift plan, but I accidentally forgot what I was doing and got her two more. I really want to keep the meaning of Christmas in focus, and I am so happy I did. She got several little gifts from staff members at school, which was very thoughtful since they don't celebrate Christmas. She got a little jewel bracelet, a neck scarf, a set of markers, and this cute little doll in a crib.
My sister sent us a lot of wonderful gifts, this little Hello Kitty locket being Abbey's favorite. It has pictures of my niece and nephew inside.
After naptime we rushed off to her final Christmas performance at the mall, and boy was it wild! There were about 500 people there to watch and TV crews filming. They had flown in a Santa from Finland who was very authentic. They had the most famous TV hostess in our area as the MC. Santa surprised us by appearing amidst fog and "snow" and disappearing in the same way he came. The kids did a great job and I was most proud of my adult friends who sang. Would you believe they were asked to share the true meaning of Christmas?! And they did, in English and Chinese. What an opportunity! We all went to Starbucks afterward to celebrate. Abbey LOVED being on stage and has been begging me to be in another show and asking me if I can get her a microphone. I think we will be having fun with performances over the next few years.
Abbey and Heidi
Our neighbor and co-worker, Jasmine.

Over the next few days Abbey slowly opened up her other presents. My three gifts were a princess watch (with different princesses you can change out), princess underwear (a different princess for each day of the week), and a princess castle (which I had to secretly buy at Disneyland and try to carry home). The two I accidentally got her were a peg board and plastic sheets of letters to trace. Her art teacher also gave her a great gift. It's an art set where you can put together different princess outfits and rub a crayon over them, she loves it. I never realized how nice the days after Christmas are for a mom with your child happily playing with new toys! Abbey has brought me so much joy, every day is a gift.