Merry Christmas

This is Elena's first Christmas here in the US.  We opted this year for what we call a "more traditional and natural Christmas tree" but one that most would call a "Charlie Brown Christmas tree."  It's main selling point with us was that it was lightweight and Andy could easily carry it tucked under one arm, while I carried Elena back to the car.  She quickly got overwhelmed (as we suspected she might) at the busy farmer's market and we made a quick exit--but with a tree!

Though it is less than beautiful, it still has room for presents underneath. Thinking that we didn't want to get someone too excited, we waited until Christmas Eve to put gifts underneath.  Hilariously, Elena didn't actually notice (or, rather, didn't categorize the new boxes in the "things to open" category) until we pointed them out on Christmas morning, even after running round and round right past them about a dozen times or more on Christmas Eve.

Anyway, let's see some pictures:

Christmas morning. Can we start now?

We bought a large sized, 10-doll set of matroyshka dolls on Ebay and used the biggest ones as gift containers.  Elena likes these.  She calls them "kuklas"--Russian for "doll".

Elena opening a scary fish bath toy; gift courtesy of Liam Monoghan.

 More pictures after the break:



The first couple small matroyshkas Elena opened had small chocolate bars in them.  Which she wanted to eat right away, of course.  Then she assumed ALL the presents had chocolates in them.  I hope she wasn't disappointed.

Chocolate!  Choclate!  MORE chocolate??

Muppets and Nemo from Grandma & Grandpa Petersen

Watching Masha i Medved

We're also easing her into the American pasttime of watching the little screen.  She's now got her own DVD player (which hopefully will last longer than a few days before breaking), augmented by a suite of DVDs.  She immediately glommed onto the "Masha i Medved" DVD (see the last post), but we'll transition to the others eventually.  And a little interactive screen: a mini Etch-a-Sketch.

Mini etch-a-sketch from Grandma and Grandpa Moskalik

When it comes to drawing, Elena seems to be process-oriented rather than outcome-oriented, so I think she appreciates the method of erasure more than the ability to draw. She also got Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, complete with glasses (remember this?  We do).

And speaking of process-oriented toys, check out the RC truck:

Radio-controlled truck fram Grandma & Grandpa Moskalik