Christmas 2009

We celebrated Lola's first Christmas (my and Luke's 5th, and our 3rd as a family) at my parents house in Denver this year. We flew out a few days before, stayed for a few after, then flew back and went to our family cabin in Bear Lake to have our Christmas with Brooklyn. It wasnt as crazy as it sounds and we actually did a lot of relaxing and sitting around doing nothing. It was another great Christmas and one we enjoyed even more this time around, celebrating with our little Lola. She was so much fun! We bought her a few Christmas books and a Baby Einstein Christmas DVD a few weeks before to get her excited and used to the sights and sounds of Christmas which she LOVED. The DVD pack also came with a CD that we would play for her while she was napping in her swing and she loved that too. She's going to be the biggest fan of Christmas, like her mom, if she isnt already :) On Christmas Eve, we had family friends over for a Christmas feast and then before bed Lola opened her first present from Mom and Daddy. As tradition (from my side) it is always an Ornament and Jammies. And she really loved her jammies as you can see!

My parents house was on the full side this year as they were generous enough to host myself, Luke, Lola, my sister Breecia and her 2 kids- Alexis and Dylan, my sister Paige and my 2 brothers (who still live at home)- Nathan and Taylor. A total of 11 people. So Christmas morning took us almost 3 hours because my family insists on taking turns, opening gifts one by one. Its so ridiculous. We gave Lola a few presents for every turn and half way through she needed a nap before opening the rest. She was too cute and got so excited over each present. She didnt really get the tearing off of the wrapping paper but she loved the bows and ribbon and especially the tissue paper from bagged gifts. It was a lot of fun seeing Christmas through her eyes and I already cant wait until next December.

We had Brooklyn over New Years this year and we went to our family cabin for the holiday. Once there, Brooklyn opened her gifts that Santa had left for her at our house and from all the family on our side. We spent the next few days hanging out, snowmobiling and sledding, and playing with her new toys and games. Brooklyn was a bit harder to buy for this year because whenever we asked what she wanted for Christmas she would shrug and say she just wanted fun toys. One thing she did ask Luke for was a Diary with a lock, so she could write secrets in it! When she finally made a Christmas list it included a diary, $100 cash, a bunkbed, EZ Bake Oven and a kid computer. She cracks me up! So Santa did what he could and brought her the diary, a cupcake maker, and $20 cash, but you would have thought she got $100 with how excited she was over it! She got a lot of other great gifts but her favorite was a tin of Pet Shops from Grammy and Bonka. She wrote in her new diary that she got cash, lots of candy and toys, and that she made cupcakes with Daddy and they were 'yumy'. Too cute!! Brooklyn is at really fun age and I cant believe she is going to be 7 in February! It was a great Christmas and New Year holiday with our family.