Christmas 2010 Part III

Norah was up before anyone else Christmas morning.  In Hicks Family protocol children are not allowed to check out what Santa has left until the parents (meaning Guy and Susan) give the go ahead.  This was all fine with Norah except that the dog was upstairs in the family room and she was downstairs.  She was pressed up against the glass door at the top of the basement stairs pointing and saying “Dog, dog? Dog! Dog? Dog? DOG!!”  Bryan called Murphy and was able to get him to join us and that bought us some time but eventually Norah was back at the top of the stairs wanting to break free.   By this time Guy and Susan were ready to go but everyone else was still asleep.  I guess they were taking advantage of the quiet morning since the last few days they had been woken up early but a noisy Norah who had been unrestrained.  After an amusing few minutes of watching Norah struggle to get upstairs, Guy and Susan decided that it would be okay if Christmas started earlier for Norah than everyone else.  They got the video camera ready and positioned themselves for the great moment and then . . . Norah marched right past the family room laden with gifts and toys and went straight to the highchair.  It caught us all by surprise and gave us a good laugh but I guess it shouldn’t have.  It isn’t like anyone really took the time to explain to Norah what was going to happen Christmas morning.  I asked Norah what she wanted for breakfast and she very clearly announced “Popcorn!”

So that is what she got.

After a few minutes in her highchair she successfully roused the rest of the household and we moved on to the presents. 

Her little Moped from Santa Susan was a HUGE hit.  It was the first toy she approached and she was so stunned by its appearance she just stood next to it for a while with her hands on the handles.  Elmo was a close second and was treated to rides on the MopedShe was very impressed with the storage space.  She would open it and say “Wow” or “Ohhh”Norah’s doting aunt Courtney helped her figure out the concept of the stocking.  Courtney is seen here holding Norah’s Blackberry –  a small pink calculator from the dollar store – works like a charm.She also scored a hip pair of sunglasses – maybe now she’ll leave her friend Graham’s pair aloneThen she went back to her new kitchen to make a respectable breakfast.Can you tell she is the only grandchild?