Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was a little different for our family. It was the 1st Christmas we've had a newborn in our family (the other kids were almost 1 on their 1st Christmas). That added a bit of a different perspective. For one, I was determined to keep things more simple this year. Santa didn't go too crazy on the gifts (which was fine, since Brynn and Collin were most excited about the candy in their stockings than anything else). We had very few Christmas decorations either. I had decided that I didn't want to bother getting any of our decorations out of the attic, so our only Christmas tree this year was a 2 foot fake one without any decorations on it. Since our stockings were also in the attic, I made some simple, new ones out of some leftover fabric I had. I actually liked how they turned out, and will probably use them again next Christmas. A few other little things, and our decorating was considered done for the year. Dave and the kids didn't seem to mind, and it was so much less stressful for me. This was also the first year that I had almost all of the gifts bought and wrapped in early November. All of these things meant that I was able to focus less on the "Santa/gifts" part of Christmas and more on Christ and what the holiday really means to me. I definitely want to try to keep things simple again next year and have our family emphasize the real reason for Christmas. Of course, we'll have our regular Christmas tree and more of our decorations next year.

Once again, we felt blessed to have so much of our family nearby to celebrate with. On the 23rd, we went to Dave's mom's house and had a nice dinner with his family (minus Laurie and her family who live out of state). Unfortunately, despite bringing my camera, I forgot to take any pictures over there. Photography seems to slip my mind alot these days unless I see someone else with a camera and remember to pull mine out. However, we had a fun evening with them.

On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at my parents' house with some of my dad's side of the family. This has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember, and included our traditional meal of lasagne, as well as enchiladas and tamales. Yum! We stayed over there later than usual, so we could welcome my brother Brian and his family into town. They were only staying for 2 days, so we were glad to get the extra bit of time with them. Then, we headed home so we would be sure to be asleep before Santa's visit. Brynn has never been so eager to go to bed. I was tempted to ask Santa if he could come by every night, just to make bedtime easier.

On Christmas morning, Brynn woke up and didn't realize that it was Christmas day. She hung out with Eden and I in the family room until Dave woke up. We woke up Collin just before 8 AM and after everyone was dressed, we went to see if Santa had been by. I could tell that Brynn was questioning whether she made the naughty or nice list this year, because she was really unsure if there would be presents. She was also really concerned that Eden might have been awake when Santa came, causing him to have to leave. (This was a topic she brought up multiple times in the days leading up to Christmas.)

Santa did come bring us presents!

Checking out the gifts to find the ones for her...
Collin found his pile!

The first things Collin found were some Thomas the Trains. He was so excited about them that we had to keep asking him to put them aside to open his other gifts.

Dave multi-tasking--holding Eden while getting video of the kids (that is not a funky hat on Eden's head. It is a decorative bowl that was sitting near her.)

Brynn was so excited to find a candy cane in her stocking, and even more excited to find 2 more. Gotta love how easy little kids can be to please.

"Glubs!" I guess since we live in the desert, gloves are a fun novelty item. Brynn and Collin were excited to find these in their stocking.

A tired daddy and sweet baby...

Our best gift this year...

After we had our own little Christmas at our house, we went over to my parents' house to celebrate with my family. We made a big breakfast, which has become a Christmas tradition with my family. We had 3 extra guests this year. My brother Brian's mother-in-law Graciela, Brian's sister-in-law Angie, and Angie's husband Sean came into town with Brian and Natacha.

My sister Alison and her husband Travis...

My brother Justin with his son Trance...

My mom checking out one of her gifts...(for Christmas, my parents asked for a scrapbook page from each of their 4 kids to add to the scrapbook we did for them last year).

My brother Brian with Eden...(This visit was his first time meeting Eden. Note the cute booties she is wearing. They were one of the gifts Eden received from Brian and Natacha's family, and were handmade by Natacha's grandmother in Argentina. Eden also received a dress, a few sweaters, a couple pairs of booties, and a couple pairs of shoes, all knit by her grandmother).

Eden looking stylish on her 1st Christmas. She happened to coordinate with her carseat.

After the gifts were opened, we hung out at my parents' house for awhile and just visited and relaxed. My dad offered to rock Eden to sleep, and did such a good job, that he fell asleep as well.

Brynn had so much fun playing with her cousin Micaela. Since they haven't lived in the same state in years, they don't get to see each other very often. However, with each visit, they get along better and better, and have become good friends.

One of the things Brynn and Micaela loved doing was drawing on this table at my mom's. It has a dry-erase surface, so when the smaller kids (ie, Collin) aren't around, they can draw on it. When I went to check on them, I found this drawing by Brynn. It has a picture of Dave, me, Brynn, Collin, and Eden. She even wrote Collin's name in a fancy script. She was obviously proud.

How Eden spent most of her 1st Christmas...I love how she often sleeps with her hands tucked around her face. And I just love those sweet little lips and those squishy cheeks!

In the afternoon on Christmas, I headed back to our house for a couple hours. We brought Micaela with us, so the kids could have more time together before Micaela had to go back home the next day. They were so cute when they cuddled up together on Collin's little couch to watch one of their new DVDs...

We definitely had a nice Christmas with lots of new memories created. However, one thing to note for next year: Santa is going to have to step up his game in the sneaky-ness department.