Christmas Morning

Ah, the excitement of Christmas Morning! And I'm finally getting around to posting a few pictures! (I figure maybe I'll work backwards from here to get caught up: Zoo Lights, Amarra's birthday, Seleia's birthday....) This year was incredibly fun as it was Little Man's first real experience with all of it (he was pretty much asleep in the bouncy seat last year) and his excitement was downright hilarious. Really, I think the mini light sabers in the stockings might have been enough..we could have called it quits after that. THE Most played with toys of all.  Who knew? Dash is so proud he can turn his on by himself, and battles anything in sight. (It downright makes me sigh with pride to see my baby boy battling a stuffed dalek with a light saber. I mean, that's when you know you're raising your kids right.)
Joel could not have reacted better to his gifts, and got downright teared up when he opened the picture I took at the beach this summer and had stretched on canvas for him. (But I didn't tell you that.)
Amarra was in total shock that she actually got the remote control wall climbing spider she's been asking for since October. (Little did she know I bought it in July!) She love love loves the flamingo apron mama made her, too, and has been eager to help out in the kitchen to get an excuse to wear it!
Elora is always so much fun to give gifts to, she is so so grateful. She did not expect to finally get her very own violin along with her very own lessons! Talk about one proud girl! She got all teared up when she opened her very own Bible from Mimi and Poppop and could not love her little Blythe doll more.
Seleia..my big girl got a violin, too! A full size, grown up violin with a professional shoulder rest just like she wanted! I've actually had to cut her off from practicing a few times since Christmas so she can get some other things accomplished! And she squealed with delight that mama made her her very own sweater sleeve leg warmers!
And me? I got the things I wanted most: books and dates! I told Joel I wanted "twelve days of Christmas". One in January, one in February, one in March...and so on.  He wasn't quite sure how to wrap that up, so I got some rockin' coupons for dinners at some of my favorite restaurants, a trip to the beach, some plays.  Perfect! And the time,thought and love that went into them? Even better!
Then we enjoyed the rest of our day...played with new goodies, ate too much, listened to good music, the whole shebang. We missed our far away family, but other than that it was just perfect.  Could not be more blessed.

Trimmimg the Tree

We love our Christmas decorations. Just a few years ago I was trying to decorate while keeping a bunch of toddlers out of my ornaments...now I have a bunch of amateur decorators showing me how its done.  I love it. (Elora, in particular, has very specific ideas about how things should go. Do you like the TARDIS ornament she made for the tree this year?) It is absolutely one of my favorite evenings of they year when we pull out the ornaments, put on the John Denver Christmas album, and trim our Christmas tree. The girls have great affection for their ornaments and love to tell us where they are from, how old they were when they got/made them, the whole history. The placement of each ornament is special.
This year was bittersweet for me, as many of my ornaments and decorations were gifts from my beloved grandmother, who we lost this year. The antique birds and vintage bells that are among my very favorites were those she bought when I was tiny and gave to me as an adult. So many other ornaments  are in my possession due to her affinity for catalogs. If she saw something she thought I would like, she inevitably ordered it (hence the musical chili pepper tree I received three years in a row. It used to drive me crazy but oddly enough I'm rather fond of it now). I'll think of her every Christmas, and be grateful for her always.

O Christmas Tree!

 

I love, love, love this time of year! The excitement level in this house when it comes time to find the perfect tree is positively contagious.  This year it was fun to have Dashiell in on the action as we traipsed through the trees for an hour or so before finding the perfect Christmas tree to bring home. (We went a little shorter this year. Its only 11 feet.) We've yet to trim it (hopefully tonight) but the lights are up and blinking and the house smells like pine and I love it. Ho ho ho!