Merry Christmas!

While the Kang-Weyant family slept, Santa and his cute little helper paid us a visit. Woot! Woot! It's Christmas time! Time to par-tay! Kate crawled into bed with us at six o' clock and mercifully slept for another hour. Later on, I hurried downstairs to turn on the tree lights and get the video camera ready as Kate shouted down, "Mom, did Santa come last night? Did he eat the cookies??" "Whoo hooo!" But even after seeing the piles and piles of presents under the tree, the first thing Kate wanted to do was give Chris and me our present: A handmade "Christmas ornament, not a potholder." Seeing it hanging on the tree, Kate realized that it might, in fact, be a potholder, but we all agreed it was too beautiful to be sullied and left it on the tree. Kate was very curious about what was inside this gigantic package from Uncle Tom in Canada. A ginormous giraffe for Kate and Lily! Kate was over the moon. And Lily...well, Lily cooed and drooled. Chris and I knew that somewhere, Tom was impishly giggling to himself, wondering if we were furious at him for sending such a ridiculously huge present. Truthfully, Chris and I both dreamed about having a giant toy animal when we were kids, like Richie Rich or Ricky Schroeder in Silver Spoons. An impractical, inconvenient, and expensive toy no parent would buy. Thanks, Tom! Of course, giant giraffe upstaged Santa's big gift to the girls -- a play refrigerator. Still, our darling daughter was grateful, and told us so. Pop-Pop and Grammy Marianne sent matching dresses with a beautiful Korean print. As well as a couple of pretty princess nightgowns for Miss Kate. And some cute owl p.j.'s for our owl baby.

Kate was the proud new Mommy of Bitty Baby "Carol" (for "Christmas Carol"), thanks to Samcheon, Sookmo, and Emma!

Who came with her own diaper backpack/carrier.

Aunt Soo sent a bunch of "Little Miss" books, and beautiful matching outfits for the girls.

Kate received a wooden microwave from Nana, and Lily got an owl buddy to keep her company.

Santa left clothes for Mom...

...and a T-shirt for Appa, among other things. Since Chris does all the vermin-trapping, bug-killing, and toilet-unclogging chores in our family, he has become our de facto janitor. Chris said all he needs now is a basement office with a girly calendar and a soiled cot.

Giraffey and Kate bonded over a bowl of Cheerios.

Santa's little helper needed a diaper change or two.

And enjoyed some sing-songy conversation with Mom.

This snowman ornament reminded us of Kate and Lily.

Later on, Lily paid a visit to Kate's hair salon.

And received a very fine hair fluffing.

Santa also brought Kate a few "Magic Tree House" chapter books, and Mom read the first one to a captivated Kate and Giraffey.

Ever since she was a baby, Kate has always loved books.

After all the gift-opening mania, we delivered Kate's Xmas cookies to our neighbors and got some exercise.

Even after getting an enormous amount of presents, Kate said that the best ones in the whole world were "Mom, Appa, and Lily." Here's hoping she feels this way for at least another year or two.

Merry Christmas!