Adelyn's Legacy: Merry Christmas!

Christmas is almost over. I sit here in the quite thinking.....missing Adelyn more than I have in awhile. Maybe it's because all the hustle and anticipation is over and the "after holiday" let down has started - when I feel that way it always brings up my grief a little more. Maybe it's just the time of year. Maybe it was seeing my living kids get showered with presents and Adelyn can't get any. It's probably a combination of it all.

We had a good Christmas, despite me hiding one of Sierra's presents so well I couldn't find it. I was so frustrated yesterday I wanted to cry. I looked everywhere and still nothing. She wanted a Gingersnap dress up outfit and a ginger baby doll. Gingersnap is from Strawberry Shortcake, the 2003 version. So, neither of these things exist. It took a LOT of work on my part to come up with these, but it was worth it seeing this face:

Anyway, the outfit wasn't too hard to make up - jeans, a white shirt (I added a picture of Gingersnap and created it on CafePress, love that site), a pink cardigan and a bucket hat with a gingerbread man on the brim. Got it all pieced together, and was SO excited to see her face. Except I couldn't find the pink cardigan shirt. I bought it at Old Navy a few weeks back, I even remember what else I bought the same day. One thing is a coat that is hanging in her closet for next year. Figures I can find that but not what I need. I was so frustrated about it, but gave up looking around midnight on Christmas Eve and grabbed a pink long sleeve shirt instead. Sierra did notice and said the pink shirt was supposed to go over the other shirt, I felt awful at that point. I told her that Santa sent me a message saying he lost it or it fell off his sleigh and he would send it to her via her elf next week. Now should I buy another one or see if it turns up? If I wait, it won't turn up and if I buy another one it will!

The Ginger baby also has a story....I did find a Gingersnap doll on Ebay and showed it to Sierra and asked her if that was what she wanted. Nope, she wanted it to be "born baby" (what she calls a newborn baby) without hair. Ah! So when we got down our Christmas decorations from the attic, I had Trevor grab a few bags of toys from up there. I found one with 2 baby dolls, I thought they were 18 inches like American Girl dolls but they were only 14 inches I think. I knew they were up there, I had been trying to decide what to do with them. Sierra needs another doll as much as she "needs" more clothes! But, I remember when I bought them. It was almost 3 years ago, during an after Christmas sale. I bought 2 because they were so cheap and made by the same brand of dolls I collected as a kid. When I found out Adelyn was a girl, I planned on giving one to her and one to Sierra. One was a baby and one had hair like a "big sister" type doll. Perfect. Of course I never gave them because Sierra always had a specific doll she wanted the past 2 years. Then I thought I should just give them away becuase Sierra only plays with one doll really. But I couldn't because of the memory attached to it. So I made this baby into the ginger baby - found a gingerbread doll outfit, gingerbread diaper, made a gingerbread bow and found doll jeans/white shirt like Gingersnap wears and put a gingerbread man on it. I was proud of it, and glad I found a use for the baby that was sort of bought for Adelyn. In case you are wondering, here is the outfit and doll:

And here is what Gingersnap looks like on the older version of Strawberry Shortcake:

Coen got mostly "recycled" and hand me down toys. He is too little to understand, so why spend money on things he doesn't need? I'm actually impressed with how little we spent this year, makes me happy to not have to worry about a large credit card bill! And everyone is very happy with their presents.

As for me, my favorite gifts: