Riley's Christmas Eve 2010

Riley started off her Christmas Eve by participating in a my side of the family tradition...last minute shopping! She was tickled that she got to go with "that girl" which is how she referred to her Aunt Tata for most of the visit and Gammy to the mall. Gammy topped it off by taking her to Chick-Fil-A which is currently on her list of favorite places in the world. Lately when I ask her what she would like to do for the day she will say "Mebbe we go to the mall and sick fil a or sumpin?".

By the time she came home from her shopping adventure, I was headed out for one of my own. Riley could not be persuaded to be separated from me so we reloaded her in the car for round two. She was such a trooper, sans nap, eating her chicken nuggets in the backseat of our swaggin wagon with her Gampy. Speaking of, Gampy is her #1 pal when he's here. It makes me so happy to watch the two of them together.

While we were in the car Riley finally decided that she can spell her name (after months of me practicing with her). She was sitting with my Dad and found a pull up in a seat back pocket that's ICE. She yanked it out, tugged on my Dad's arm, pointed at the letters and said, "Hey, you know what dis say?". My Dad said, "Pull Ups", because, well he can read and it was the most logical answer. "No, no, no.", she replied. It says "R-I-L-E-Y. RILEY! You sill-wee picky-dill-wee."

That afternoon she made chocolate chip cookies with her Gammy. (Somehow I managed not to snap a single photo of this!)

My family always opens one gift on Christmas Eve and it's usually Christmas pajamas. This was the first year we started that tradition with her.



I found matching jammies for her and Cam at Old Navy this year. They both said "Santa's Little Helper".



Riley left Santa a big plate of cookies and chocolate milk complete with a note that she dictated to me.



And she peeked out the window for a glimpse of his sleigh one more time before heading up to bed.



For the record, even though she didn't have a nap that day the poor thing couldn't fall asleep until almost 11 pm because she was so excited!