Earth Shattering Christmas....

Olivia's 2nd Christmas is officially in the books. She wasn't what I would call "interested" in opening presents but at least she was a mobile little participant in the festivities this year. We spent Christmas Eve at Babi and Didi's house and she absolutely loved leading her cousin, Lauren, around by the hand everywhere she went. Christmas morning we opened loads of presents and then it was off to Pop Pop and Bon Bon's house for Christmas night. There was yet another load of presents waiting for Olivia there. Can anyone say, "Spoiled"? And if she didn't already have enough things to play with and keep her busy until she was 10, Santa left his last stash of presents at our house for her to open on the 26th, including the ones that Nanny and Brian sent. After finishing this marathon of present opening, Olivia reminded us how little she really needs to be happy by going immediately to the kitchen and pulling out a pot and wooden spoon and plopping down on the floor to perform a lovely Christmas percussion piece. Oh well. She does thoroughly enjoy keeping busy in her new walk-in kitchen that Babi and Didi got her though. She looks like she has her own little cooking show going on as she fries up peas, salts her hotdog and looks through the refrigerator for something else to throw in the microwave. She already knows that a woman's work is never done.

Now, I'd love to say that all that made the last couple of days the most memorable in our parental lives thus far. However, we had one more, let's just say interesting, thing happen. In her baby book, I now have to find a place to write in "First Earthquake....Dec 27, 2008". Yes, you read that correctly. A little past midnight, right after Mike and I had gone to bed, we felt the house shake and heard what sounded like an explosion. Everything BUT an earthquake ran through our heads...Did the furnace explode? Did the new wood burning stove cause an explosion in the chimney? Did a huge tree fall on the house? Mike did some exploring to find the cause of the shake but it wasn't until I called 911 that we learned that it was an earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter Scale. So what did Olivia think of all of this middle of the night excitement? "Eh, wake me up in the morning when my breakfast is ready."

It was definitely a most memorable Christmas!