Chris-kiss

Since J was off, today was our Christmas.
When Little One came down the stairs, She walked carefully, as if She might wake Herself up.  She held Her arms out, pulled by a force field over to the fluffy pink ballerina tutu.  Her first words (spoken to the tutu) were: "Oh....my..........doodness....!" 
She fingered the tulle gently, and whispered, "ball-er-een-a"!
She walked a slow, disbelieving lap around the other unwrapped gifts, and then inspected Santa's cookie plate.  "This Santa! Eat cookies aaaalllll gone! Oh!"
She spied the stockings.  There was lip gloss in there.  She had a candy cane for breakfast.  Yes She did! I know you all know my feelings about Little One and sugar.  I unwrapped it for Her.  Such is the potency of Christmas magic, catalyzed by two-year-old wonder.
And She spent most of the day like this:

 

Until She was completely overwhelmed by the excitement and looked like this:

After "Mommy I need take a little break",  more excitement ensued. The only thing Little One loved as much as the generosity of Her family and friends was the fact that Mommy and Daddy stayed home in our PJ's all day long and did nothing else but play with Her. 
Our first Christmas on our own, we missed our families this year.  But it really was the best gift to just Be Together like that. And play.  And sing a lot of "jingle bells", and dance around the living room, and eat leftover sweet-potato pie, and play. 
I hope all you Peanuts had a fantastic Holiday yourselves, whether it was a big blowout party or a quiet joy like ours. 
The truth is that being together all day was the best gift, for ALL of us this year.
But also. My husband?  With whom I have operated on a tacit understanding that we don't really give each other gifts on holidays?  My husband whose home-made breakfast was all the gift I was looking for today? 
He gave me pearls.
I cried.

 Merry Christmas!