Christmas Morning

...dawned early in the Zickgraf household. On Christmas Eve we let the girls each pick a present to open. Avril's was a fantastic Cinderella dress courtesy of Grandma Zan and Xandri chose gummy Lifesaver's, another Grandma Zan gift.

So, naturally, Avril woke up at 6:30am, wanting to wear her Cinderella dress. I decided to let the rest of the house sleep a little longer while I did Avril's hair, Cinerella style. She loved it, and I let her wear a choker of mine as well. She was so cute. Of course, as soon as I finished with her, Xandri was up and wanting to be all princess-y, too. So what could I do? I put her in a pretty little dress and fixed her hair (pigtails are as much as we can sit still for these days, and even that is pretty tough sometimes.

Once everyone was all ready, I had the girls wait at the top of the stairs while Derek and I got set up with video cam & my camera.

The look on Avril's face was priceless. You can see the girls still look a little tired, especially Xandri. But they loved it.




Of course, for Xandri the funnest part was the classic ripping and tearing.










Honestly, it was a whole new experience being the primary giver rather than the receiver. There were few surprises in store for me-- just what Derek got for me.

Which was honestly the BEST SURPRISE EVER! I'm happy to announce that I am married to The Best Husband Ever. (Also the best-looking as you can clearly tell from this Christmas morning face.)


Yes, my friends, the man got me Adobe CS4 this year for Christmas. Yes, the brand-spanking-new design software. I've been positively giddy playing with it and learning new things on it. I have a LOT to learn, I'm totally in over my head in Photoshop, but it'll come. In addition, he got me a couple of photography books, one of which is Canon Rebel XSi/450D for Dummies. It's been so cool to learn how to take creative control of my camera. I'm learning new things all the time and still have much to learn to truly conquer my camera and feel like I'm the master of my domain (not that one... just the camera).


It was great having my dad for Christmas as well. It was a really cool, relaxing Christmas, although in my excitement about Christmas morning, I forgot to plan the rest of the day! I loved shopping for the girls for Christmas, but I didn't plan a Christmas dinner or anything and I really regret it. I love decorating and entertaining with food, some of my best bonding moments have happened over a good meal or a delicious dessert. But there's always next year...