The Third Prayer

After breakfast on Christmas Eve, Mary Rene and I decided to surprise my parents with a morning visit.  They were, surprised, because it was about 9:30 in the morning.  But they didn’t care.  They were both out of bed in a heartbeat and ready to visit with their grand baby girl.

Have I ever mentioned that I have a cat?

His name is Theo.  Theodore Zachary to be exact.  He lived with me for seven years before I found out he was the reason I was sneezing all the time.  So for the last 3.5 years, he has lived with my parents.  He is a mean ol’ cat and he does not like to be touched or bothered.  Sometimes if you look at him wrong he will bite you.  Actually you don’t even have to look at him and he will bite you.

But with Mary Rene…

he is a sweetheart.  On Christmas Eve, he just laid on the ground for the longest time and let her pet him.  Mary Rene loves cats and always wants to pet him.  When she got bored petting him, she walked away but he stood up, and then rubbed against her and purred away.  Maybe that was his Christmas present to me!

After our visit we went back home and then there was a knock on the door.  Our sweet neighbors dropped off a Christmas gift for Mary Rene!

She loves, loves books and they gave her 12 mini Mickey Mouse books.  So thoughtful.

When Frank got off work we opened our stockings.

And to Mary Rene’s delight, she got a Barney DVD.  Of course we had to pop it in right away so she could watch it.

Later that night we went to Frank’s parent’s house for a Christmas Eve meal.  It was gift time again.

By this point, she is getting pretty good at opening gifts and clearly understands that there is something really good underneath that paper for her.

The next morning, Christmas!

My parents joined us for Christmas Mass and I can’t say enough how happy that made me.  Mary Rene was a perfect little angel with my parents while Frank and I were both Eucharist Ministers.  My dad held her up so she could watch me minister the Body of Christ. 

After Mass, my parents, brother, sister and their spouses came over our house for a brunch.  We usually celebrate Christmas at my parent’s house but I volunteered to host this year.  Even though we have the smallest house out of everyone, it worked out great.  Sure it was a mess to clean up, but it was so convenient.  I hope I get to host again next year!

After brunch, it was present time again.  Would you believe this bag is filled with presents for Mary Rene?

Spoiled? Not the least.

One of the cutest presents from my parents was this block set.

Such a great keepsake.  Mary Rene was having fun taking every single block out, and not putting every single block back in.

Another cool toy she got was from my sister. 

When Mary Rene woke up this morning, the first thing she did was jump in and start laughing.  She likes when I throw balls at her.

Today we celebrated Christmas with my mom’s family at my Uncle Rick & Aunt Reina’s house.

(Three parties, three different dresses.  Of course.)

Mary Rene was in absolute heaven over there because my sister brought her dog, Otis.

And my Aunt Reina has a dog, Angel.

Mac is five months older than Mary Rene and he did not want Mary Rene to pet Angel at the same time as him.  But then again, Mary Rene did not want to share her toys with him either.  Kids are so darn cute.

It was a long few days and I am worn out.  Luckily I thought ahead and earlier in the week I packed away some of Mary Rene’s toys to make room for her new ones.  It is a good thing because our house is FILLED with toys.  She got so many presents this year.  I can’t begin to imagine what it will be like when she really “gets” Christmas.

Okay, I’m tired and off to bed.

Merry Christmas!

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Family, Frank & Marriage, Mary Rene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.