Little A's First Christmas!

By the time Christmas came little A was very excited about the presents.  She'd been so good about not touching them that I didn't think she'd care, but on Christmas Eve we let her open a present and that got her very excited.

We started out Christmas Eve with our traditional Christmas crepe dinner.  So yummy!  A wanted some pretty bad; we gave her some of the fruit, but that's all she got.  Next year.  (Ava says, "That's what they tell me about everything")

Allan cooking the crepes

Instead, she had Chicken and Stars for dinner, which we discovered she hates.

A wearing the Christmas bib I made her.

After dinner we got little A ready for bed and read the Christmas Story.  A couple years ago I made a book with all the parts of the Christmas story put together so we don't have to skip around the Bible and Book of Mormon finding everything.  We've been reading that for a few days now.  Then we let little A open a gift from me.

Opening her first Christmas present.

It was an ornament that was given to me on my first Christmas.  It's a little porcelain baby doll tucked in a pink bed.  The bed says "Baby's First Christmas" on it.  The arms and legs on the doll move and you can take the bonnet on and off.  It's always been my favorite ornament, and I've been so excited to give it to her.  A loved it!  She smiled and cooed at it and loved taking the hat off.  I helped her hang it on the tree.  A little bit later Allan picked her up and was walking by the tree when A saw it and lunged for it, grunting in excitement.  So Allan stopped, and they stood there and looked at it for a while.

A reaching for the ornament I gave her.

After we put A to bed Allan and I played Mexican Train and skyped with his family.  They were skyping his sister, SG, who is serving a mission in the Philippines.  His parents had SG, us, and Allan's sister P and brother-in-law R on computers.  It was hilarious to watch Allan's brother D hold up one computer in front of another one so SG could skype with everybody.  If you look closely at the picture you can see D holding up the computer P and R are on so that SG can see them, lol!  Too funny!  It was a lot of fun to skype with them and talk to SG for a minute.  There was a bad glare so we didn't really see her, and D had to translate a little now and then, but it was still fun!

In case you were wondering, Allan beat me the first game, and then I beat him the next two games! Ha!

The next morning Allan and I got the finishing touches ready for little A and then went to get her for Christmas.  She greeted us with a great big smile!

She walked into the living room; we stopped at the advent calendar to bring baby Jesus out to the manger and talked about how Jesus was born.  Then we walked out to the tree.  She was super excited.  It was time for her to eat breakfast so I fed her while Allan separated all the presents.

We checked out the empty plate of cookies and mug of cocoa that Santa ate and drank.

Little A wasn't sure what to think of all her gifts.  The pile was bigger than she is.

We got all the gifts from her stocking first (puffs, yogurt bites, and waffles).  She was so interested in the puffs that she didn't care about any of her other gifts.  We let her play with them while we opened some of our gifts.

She got into the unwrapping after I showed her what to do and succeeded in unwrapping one of her gifts.  It was a set of blocks from Allan and I.  After that she wasn't very interested in opening the gifts, but she liked to play with them as soon as they were opened.  We would have her open one or two, and then we'd each open one so she could have a chance to play with each gift.

I put this bow on her head and somehow she got it off and stuck it on her belly, lol!

Notice the bow on her belly.

I changed little A into her Christmas outfit.  I tried to find one that said my 1st Christmas but our Walmart only had one 12 month onesie.  It says Daddy's Little Sweetie.  It's pretty cute and I surprised Allan with it.

Daddy's Little Sweetie :)

Little A got a ton of presents.  She's played with and enjoyed all of them.

Outfit, puzzles, blocks, and two ornaments from Mom and Dad

Clothes, ornament, and activity block from Nana and Pops

Car from Grandma and Grandpa Hepworth

Puzzle from Aunt K6 and cousin P

Cheer Bear with DVD from Aunt K3 and Uncle C

Momo the Monkey, ornament, and Fisher Price Nativity from AG and her family

Sing to Jesus book from Grandma H and Grandad

The loot.

She was so excited about all of her presents that she didn't want to take a nap.  We let her play an extra 30 minutes, and then she broke down into tears so we put her to bed.

Playing with her new toys.

Reading the book from Grandma H and Grandad the next day.

Allan got me one of the Willow Tree Nativity sets.  We'll add on to it next year.  I love it! I've been wanting it for years, but we could never afford until this year.  He also got me a collection of old movies to watch while I run on the treadmill and iron, some thread, and made me a wonderful book.  He does something hand-made every year, and it's always my favorite!  He also stuffed my stocking with Smarties and Turtles, my favorite candy.

I made myself a stocking this year and gave my stocking to Little A.

I got Allan some tools he wanted, a book, an excavator ornament, and an expansion pack to Settlers of Cataan.  I also stuffed his stocking with Butterfingers, Starbursts, and jerky.

Our parents gave us some really nice hiking backpacks and sleeping bags, a survival kit, some cash, and some hand-made soaps and lotions.  M1 and H gave us a set of Elizabeth Gaskell movies (we started watching Cranford, and it is absolutely hilarious!) K3 and C gave us the Awkward Family Photos game. And our family gift was the book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries", we are excited to read it.

Allan had fun trying out the sleeping bags.  They are really nice!

We cooked a delicious Christmas dinner: Ham with pineapple, potatoes and gravy, salad, steamed veggies, and cheese sauce.  So yummy! We made a cheeseball on Christmas Eve, but somehow it didn't last until Christmas dinner.

Little A has had so much fun with all of her new toys.  She loves to push all the musical buttons on her car and dance to the music.  She pushes herself around really well.  She doesn't walk with it yet, but she's enjoyed standing.

Her favorite new toy is definitely the hammer that goes with her activity block.  She loves to bang it and especially to chew on it.  She will sit contentedly and chew on that hammer forever, lol!

Allan had Christmas and the 2 days after Christmas off.  We've loved having the extra family time together.  Little A has especially loved to have her daddy home for several days in a row.  Her bond to him has grown stronger the last few days.  I've loved watching them together.

Thank you all for your generous gifts! We love you and hope you had a great Christmas too!