Millie’s requests for Christmas Day were: open presents, watch movies all day, bake cookies, and eat pizza. So that was our plan for the day.

We told her last night not to wake us up before 7AM and she came into our room at 7:01 yelling “Merry Christmas!!!” We got up and watched her open her stocking and presents.

The biggest hits were the Elsa hair accessories and candy from her stocking, especially the giant Chupa Chips lollipop we got her. She sees these in airports and has been asking for one for months. So much candy. We polished off the chocolate orange, M&Ms, and two lollipops by 9AM. I ate multiple pieces of the chocolate orange with my coffee while watching her open gifts. Heaven.

After all the presents were open we held true to our promise of letting her watch movies all day. We finished Home Alone and watched The Grinch. She took a few breaks to paint with her new watercolors and glitter glue pens.

She didn’t wear anything but underwear all day, so my shareable photos are limited. We made some chocolate chip cookies with the “just add water” mix I found yesterday. I was skeptical but they were pretty good.

We had a brunch of cookies, fruit, and pigs in a blanket.

While she watched endless movies, Nick and I had planned and booked the next two weeks. We are in an alternate reality with this trip and didn’t consider how expensive and busy everything would be in the next couple of weeks. It feels like the Golden Week we dealt with in China. I can’t wait until things to normalize again in mid-January.

At about 3 we hit the “too much of a good thing” wall. Too much sugar, too much TV, too little exercise. Millie was bored, impatient, and whiny with everything we tried to do with her. I think there is also always a comedown after a high expectations day. The same thing happened on her birthday. She started to act like a brat about her gifts and while “helping” me to make ginger snaps. I did the classic parental guilt trip lecture of “I walked miles in the hot rain last night so that you could have everything you wanted today” and she cried. It was not a great part of the day and I felt guilty about my lecture afterwards, even though it was true. I finished making the complicated ginger snaps on my own.

Once she got some real food (pizza, cucumber, & apples) in her she equalized. We had a dance party, did more crafts, and watched more movies. We ate another snacky dinner on the couch.

And now… Nick and I begin our own movie night. He is reading to her once she’s out we will pour ourselves a whisky and watch One Battle After Another. Ultimately we all want the same thing for Christmas: a special little treat and to zone the F out in front of a movie.