I hope you’ve had a Merry Christmas today and if you’re not celebrating Christmas or Chanukah, I hope you’ve had a wonderful Sunday.
We did.
Santa came.
He made it all the way down from the North Pole down to the South Pole and found one good little girl’s here here in Aruba.
Complete with overweight baggage fees from Delta Airlines.
Art supplies and puzzles tend to weigh down the sleigh.
Santa was able to source the rest of the loot locally, like a play beauty salon, play kitchen food, and Barbies.
Actually, Santa came to Aruba two weeks ago and Skylar’s been playing with her toys for the past couple weeks. I took these pictures then.
What good do the toys do sitting hidden in a closet when she could be using them? Not to mention, for every minute spent drawing, that was one less minute I had to listen to the television being on and loud cartoons on within earshot. The channel choices we have here are quite limited and there’s an abundance of the most obnoxious ones.
And she’s loved her markers and crayons, play food, and play beauty salon. Here she is sniffing the plastic atomizer telling me how good the perfume smells. Nothing wrong with her imagination.
So it was a win to give the gifts early: less tv time and more imaginary play when we’re not at the beach.
She’s also been showered with gifts from our Aruban neighbors. Our neighbors here are either childless or their children are grown and they’ve told us it gives them joy to buy a few little things for her.
She’s hit the Dora, Barbie, and play food jackpot and has loved every pink second of it.
I’ve loved every second of today. It has been picture perfect. From sun up until sun down, it’s been sunny, gorgeous, beautiful and we’ve been to the pool.
The beach and then back to the pool.
We had a family walk with this view.
Lots of fresh fruit, more Cookie Butter White Chocolate Banana Smoothies than I ever thought my little Magic Bullet could make or that my family could drink to wash down our crunchy snacks.
The day was filled with beautiful weather, laughs, and love.
I’ve truly had a Merry Christmas with my family and I hope yours has been the same.
Merry Christmas!
Questions:
Did Santa stop by your house this year? What did he bring? Or any fun memories of great gifts that Santa (or the Chanukah closet) brought you as a child?
Did you receive any gifts this year that you’re in love with? Do tell!
What did you do today?
Merry Christmas! Skylar is adorable. I miss the days when Santa bringing me a Barbie was the BEST thing EVER. Luckily, nowadays, I get just as excited giving as I do getting!
PS. Clicked through from Reader without any issues whatsoever.
Christmas in paradise… Skylar is going to have some amazing memories from childhood!! I love Crayola art supplies, I just bought myself some not too long ago, lol.
Yeah, Santa visited here and I think we might have taken up 70% of his sleigh, haha.
Love this little girl of yours! She’s a girl after my own heart!
Brooke
http://www.TheAnnessaFamily.com
Did I mention I’m coming to visit you in Aruba today? ;) What great Christmas treats! Santa came in FULL force to our house. So many boxes…haha ;) Kaylin got spoiled all around
Wonderful to read that you’re having a picture perfect festive season- glad you’re all having the most wonderful time! Merry Christmas :-) xxx
Merry Christmas to you & your family, Averie!
We just spent Christmas with my grandfather’s gilfriend’s family who have a 3.5 yr old that made Christmas incredibly fun by insisting we all play with her new toys including a shopping cart with fake food products that we all got to make a “meal” out of. Should’ve taken some pictures for the blog and submitted to foodgawker, I’d love to hear their denial reason for that one! ;)
Hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed the sun!
What a gorgeous day!!! Santa definitely did pay us a visit, and I felt spoiled for sure!!! New PJs were the best as my current ones are very well loved with lots of holes! It’s actually boxing day here so I decided to do an at home workout as all the gyms are still closed. You can check it out/download a printable pdf of it here https://the-healthy-diva.com/2011/12/26/the-couch-potato-workout/
Now off to watch the sydney to hobart race with Dad!
What a fantastic day you had, glad you enjoyed your holiday so much :) I had a small holiday this year, but enjoyed the company of my brothers and some family a lot. I thought you would appreciate this- my uncle has lent me his canon 7D to use for a couple of months and I’m giddy with excitement over it!!
What beautiful Christmas scenery!
My morning was Christmas fun and the afternoon was Hanukkah happiness (complete with Chinese food). Brought your treats to both houses and they were a HUGE success!
I got a wetsuit (well money for one becaue I haven’t picked it out yet) and a wireless SD card. So excited!!!
glad to hear the treats were well-liked…and love your Chinese food/Chanukah afternoon. Classic story and my hubs and his relatives tell stories of ONLY eating Chinese food on Xmas Day…marking their Chaunkah celebrations :)
Sounds like a great day and what a great idea to give Skylar her gifts early! We don’t exchange gifts so we enjoyed date night last night with a trip into LA to see Ghost Protocol and then a visit to Santa Monica to Planet Raw for a late night treat. Today we spent the morning hiking in the snow and then spent the rest of the day relaxing. It’s been a pretty perfect day :)
sounds fun!
I just love seeing that smile of hers. So special. Kid’s imaginations are amazing aren’t they. Today was the best gift overall, just low-key, long run with Jason now dinner together. Simple.
Merry Xmas and thank you for being such a great friend :)
xo
ANd I thought we were lucky here in LA with our 75 degree Christmas… and we are! But, wow. The view from Aruba looks beautiful! Merry Christmas, Averie. I am so blessed to be your friend. ;)
good to know it’s nice there..we fly home soon…glad it’s pretty warm! Hope it holds out!
I love that it has been a picture perfect time in Aruba. It sounds amazing. And what’s the difference between a day in the beginning of december vs 12/25? Not a difference to your little munchkin up there! She loved the Santa gifts nonetheless, and I love your rationales :-)
Aren’t travel sized blenders amazing while you’re away from your own kitchen? They make trips a breeze! And talking about breeze … and outdoors … that blue sky, ocean, and white sands are just too much. Take me with you next time ;-)
MERRY CHRISTMAS AVERIE!! TO YOU AND YOUR BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!
that was such a sweet comment, thank you!
and yes, the little travel blenders are great…At home I have my Vita but for down here, I just keep my Magic Bullet here and it does a great job with smoothies and we drink so many…it earns its keep down here :)
Loved this post Averie … made me laugh … especially …
“Complete with overweight baggage fees from Delta Airlines. Art supplies and puzzles tend to weigh down the sleigh.”
I LOOOVEED my personalized calendar I got from my oldest … she chose the pics and wrote a saying in every month and the Willow Tree sculpture Mother and Daughter … I felt touched by both presents … loved them!
thanks for reading my posts and for catching my humor and I am so glad you loved your gifts! AWESOME! :)