Christmas

I can't believe that it's been almost a week since Christmas. It takes so long to get here, and then it's over in a flash. Good thing we have some good pictures and cute video's to remember it by.

This Christmas was a very special Christmas because it was our very first one in our new house, and the first time we've had Christmas morning in our own home. Christmas eve, we spent with my in-laws at their place, then we came home, put Addison to bed, and spent some time putting together her gifts from Santa. When we were done, our livingroom looked like this:

Oh, and I should probably mention that Ryan and I decided to only exchange stockings this year, so every single one of the gifts under the tree are for Addison at this point. No, she's not spoiled at all, Santa just has a favorite!

Christmas morning, Ryan and I got up around 7, and Addison was still asleep. She ended up going to bed about an hour later than usual Christmas eve, so we figured she'd sleep a little later, but by 7:30, Ryan and I had gotten up, turned all the Christmas lights on, put the yule log channel on the TV (with the Christmas music playing) and had our coffees in hand. Addison was still asleep. So, probably for the first and last time on record, Daddy went to wake up his girl on Christmas morning. But, she was so tired, she just shoo'd him away and went back to sleep! We debated opening our stockings while she was still sleeping, but we just couldn't start Christmas without her, so we waited til 7:45 and Ryan went back up and tried again. When he came back downstairs, he had a very sucky, obviously still tired Addie girl in his arms.

At first, all she wanted was her mama, and she came down all sulky and whining for me, but she quickly noticed her new kitchen, and the stockings under the tree and at that point she went from wanting mama to wanting presents.

Addie LOVED the kitchen!! It is a really cute kitchen. The pots boil and the pans sizzle, the phone dials and the microwave heats and beeps.. it has all kinds of drawers and cupboards, and Addison's favorite things seem to be the hanging utensils.

We tried and tried to get her away from the kitchen, but she had no interest in anything else. We did manage to get her to open her stocking, but it took about 45 minutes. Partly because nothing compared to the kitchen and she just wanted to play with that, and also because she had to take every little thing over to the kitchen and find it a spot there.

                                                          Opening her sock with Daddy

                                                    Reaching, reaching... still reaching..

 Addison's favorite things from her stocking: Crayons (what the heck was Santa thinking giving her those?? I guess he didn't realize how hard it would be to get  them away from her) and her "big girl" Mickey Mouse cup with sparkles and glitter in it.

By the time we'd all gotten our stockings opened, both our families had arrived to watch Addie open her presents. This is where we run out of pictures. Daddy was busy cooking breakfast, and I was busy helping her with the presents. We'll have to get some pictures from the grandparents. Here's what we do have:

And since we don't have any pictures of either of our families visiting, or of Addie opening anything else, we'll go straight to the final stash. After an entire other Christmas at my parents house Christmas afternoon, and my in-law's on boxing day, this is what Addison ended up with:

Plus the kitchen. I'd say Addison made out alright this year. The only thing on the new craft table that isn't new is her laptop. Everything else was a Christmas gift.

This week has been a whirlwind of running around between family, and I had to work a couple days this week, plus re-organizing and putting all the Christmas stuff away so we can go to a New Year's Eve wedding on Saturday... it's been super busy, and I could really use some time off, but it has been wonderful. We were so blessed to have time with our families, and to see Addison light up with all her new gifts, and to be in our own home this year. I can't imagine a better Christmas, but I know that next year will be even more special when we have our newest addition to share the love with.