Christmas with Momma & Daddy!

Christmas at our own home is really special, and it's so wonderful that we get to open our presents with just our little family...something I wouldn't trade for the world!

 

On the Sunday before Christmas I did insist on a timed photo in front of the tree--mainly because I knew there would be no way I'd get one on Christmas morning! 

 

We also opened a present from Aunt Stacy on Christmas Eve morning that may have resulted in some serious excitement in our house...it was a huge stuffed JAKE!!  Elyse loves her Jake and has already invited him to several tea parties! 

 

It was a huge bonus a few years ago when we had to push Christmas with my parents back to Christmas afternoon instead of Christmas morning. This gave us the opportunity to always have Christmas at our own home and once we had children we knew this would be even more important!

 

So...this year we waited until Elyse woke up...she actually slept in until almost 8:00 which is unheard of for the most part!  We had everything all ready to go and Hubby & I even had the chance to shower and get ready for the day before she woke up!   I woke up at 5:30 because I was so excited...only to have to wait 2 1/2 hours to open presents! 

 

 

Finally she woke up!  Elyse discovered her present from Santa & we exchanged stockings...followed by a continued tradition from my childhood...

 the reading of Luke 2 before the craziness of opening presents begins! 

Elyse was all about the present opening, but we still ended up opening several of her presents just because she was so excited to play with each new item as it was opened!

She wasn't real sure about the tricycle in the beginning, but then we went for quite the ride around the house!  I think she'll catch on very quick--especially once we can get outside with it this Spring!

After the presents were opened, Hubby's mom & dad came over for an incredibly simple breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls.  We wanted them to be able to see Elyse on Christmas Day...and of course, Mamaw couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a tea party with Elyse & Jake! 

Whew....I think that's it for our Christmas celebrations!  All in all I think we had 6 total family gatherings, with the first one being on December 8th & the last one being on December 28th.  20 days of celebrating Christ's birth, 20 days of spending quality time with family, and 20 days of counting our blessings over and over again. What a perfect way to celebrate!