some holiday cheer...

some holiday cheer....Friends & family, festive meals, sleepovers, home from school, and of course presents, presents, and more presents!  Aoli is all in for Christmas and holidays in general.

An elegant meal in silk pajamas...does it get any better than this?  Violet doesn't think so.  Aoli likes to treat Violet to tastings.  According to our agreement, A. is nice to Violet "even though she doesn't like her" because V. is part of our family and in the hopes of someday getting her very on cat.

Yes, these are for Aoli (well, minus about 4 gifts)..Mamma was in denial about  Christmas until very late in the game but once one gets started shopping it does become hard to stop!

I decided to give Aoli both "Ivy" and "Rebecca" - good thing.  She really was  not taking to Ivy right away.  Apparently it does not matter that she is the Chinese American Girl doll, her hair is just not long  enough.  My sister tells me that Ivy can be sent to the "hospital" for a Hair Transplant for longer locks!!
American Girl Shopping - Just one more thing I never thought I would do....

Aoli has excellent taste in clothes and picked out Baba's gifts herself - including this new shirt and his new black/white tie which she insisted he open on Xmas-eve.

Every day on the way to school Aoli asks me for a tree-house.  This tree-house  gets more elaborate  by the day with features to involve electricity, sleeping quarters, etc. and she would like it constructed now!  Though it is really not terribly big, I couldn't pass up getting this little tented tree-house to put in one of Aoli's rooms (she has two small rooms - one for sleeping one for lounging/playing).  
I think she it was a big hit!  She slept in on Christmas night while her cousin slept right outside.

Aoli's Christmas evening sleepover was topped off with a next day trip to The Belly of the Beast - the AG store in Natick - brunch for all (including pink lemonade for the smaller girls in our group), hair styling, and ear-piercing.

Rebecca was invited today.  Ivy (or "Lili" as she is called by Aoli) was left behind at home.

All done and now off for sledding and sleeping (hopefully, at least a little) at Marissa's house!