Christmas Magic

This year Christmas was so magical and fun. Sophia was so interested in every part of it, and was so fun to establish some of our traditions with her.

Decorating the Christmas tree was a big adventure this year! We separated the ornaments into two categories, "breakable" and "Sophia" :) We gave Sophia her box and let her go to town. It was adorable to see her try and hang them on the branch. Branch, not branches, because when she was done they were all clumped together! We decided to finish the tree with the breakable ornaments after she was in bed, and we were sure to space all of ours out! :)

Exploring the Christmas Tree

close up with the tree....love the look of wonder on her face here!

Okay, maybe not all on one branch, but surely clumped together

getting into a little mischief while we were busy with all the Christmas to-do's...yet she's so good at cleaning up that it's hard to be mad...!

Christmas carols were heard at all times of the day (and night!) around our home. Not only did we play them since the beginning of December, but our little sleep-talker would even sing them in her sleep! Her most popular saying this month; "Better watch out! Santa Cause is comin' town!" and "Jingle Bells". Adorable.

Sophia absolutely LOVED that her daddy put the Christmas lights up on the house. EVERY time we would go outside, or drive up to the house she would exclaim, "Daddy did the hoooouse!!!!" in her sweet little voice it was the cutest thing EVER. And I'm pretty sure that it made climbing up and down the ladder to hang them seem like it was worth the effort for Matthew. (And a big thanks to the Grandpa's too! Don for the ladder and Whit for the non-fear of heights!)

Sophia and her daddy with the Christmas lights!

Sophia tried her best to help out when Auntie Carly and I did our Christmas baking. She was such a good girl to stand on the stool and watch, and we took full advantage of her nap time as well!

Cooking coffee on her spot in the kitchen

Just some of the goodies we were baking...

We went on our annual Christmas Lights Tour and Sophia LOVED it. "More Christmas lights please, Daddy!" is what we heard from the back seat all evening. We were certain that she'd fall asleep at some point in the evening, but she was so interested in everything she was seeing. She'd point out each and every snowman, Santa, the occasional Mickey Mouse, and baby Jesus. She was totally into it. :)

We watched Polar Express and every time that we mention the word "movie" she's convinced that we are watching Polar Express, and is sometimes disappointed to find out that there are other movies!

We sent my dad a message to wish him a happy Eve of Christmas Eve (on December 23rd!) since that was something we used to say when we were kids, and something he and his brother used to say when they were kids! Way to start the anticipation 2 days before the big day! Sophia tried so hard and said "Eve Christmas Eve" :)

This year we did something a little different for Christmas. We generally jump from family to family on Christmas day since we are so blessed to have all of our family in town. But it gets to be so much packing, unpacking, and clock watching that it's hard to really enjoy ourselves in one place. With Christmas being such an important holiday and the family time so crucial for making memories this year we made a decision to split our time over two days. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with Matthew's family. It was so nice to not have to pack up everything several times through out the day, and just enjoy our time with family.

Christmas Eve was great. We went over to my parent's house early in the day and just hung out. Mom made amazing appetizers and had all the makings for delicious croissant sandwiches to munch on throughout the day. We took our time opening our stockings, our gifts, and then went to church. After church we went back to mom and dad's and had dinner. Mom and I had made her grandmother's recipe of homemade chili in individual pie crusts. It was delicious, just as I remembered having as a kid on Christmas Eve. Sophia conked out before we went home, and slept in the back room until it was time to go. Such a relaxing day.

Sophia and I on Christmas Eve.

Our Santa Claus delivering gifts from under the tree

So happy to get her own baby doll. Named, "Baby Doll"

Reindeer footies on her Christmas PJ's

Santa Claus came to our house!

Sophia and I opening our stockings

We were so excited to see Sophia's reaction on Christmas morning. The anticipation was almost as much as waiting to see what Santa Clause had brought when we were kids! So much so that we were actually up, AND out of bed BEFORE Sophia on Christmas morning. For the first time in her 23 months, we were up before her! Go figure! So we got up, got the coffee going and turned on the Christmas tree as we waited for our little sleepy head to wake up. I'm certain that next year will be the end of that.

Waiting for our little sleepy head to wake up!

Sophia was so cute. We got her up and explained that Santa Clause had come to bring her a present because she had been a good girl all year. Before we brought her out we asked her if she wanted to see her toy and she nodded her head yes. So we headed out to the living room and she was able to see her new kitchen! She looked at it for a long time, apprehensive as she is most new things. So I asked her if she wanted to make me some coffee? She said yes and jumped down ready to play. Ever since she's been cooking more than I do. I'll be in my kitchen while she's in hers, and it's so cute to listen to her play.

Playing with her new kitchen!

Just the other night I was doing the dishes and I was eavesdropping on Sophia and Matthew playing together. It was the best;
Sophia: Daddy want coffee?
Matthew: Sure. Can I get a mocha-latte-hazelnut-basilnut-nonfat-grande coffee?
S: oh! Yeah! Daddy want milk? (With her head tilted and eyebrows raised!)
M: Sure. And breakfast. Can you make me some breakfast?
S: bekfast. yep. (goes to her stove and stirs her pots and pans)
Here Daddy. bekfast.
M: Oooh, this looks good, what did you make me?
S: bekfast.

It went on and on for almost half an hour. It was the best dishes washing time I've ever had, listening to my two loves playing kitchen together.

After our Christmas morning as a family, we traveled over to (great) Granny and Papa Joe's house for Christmas with the Taylor family. It was cute to watch the kids play together this year, as they are all starting to become aware of "play" and actually playing with others instead of just playing near others! It worked out perfectly that after a big lunch with the Taylor clan we opened our gifts and enjoyed the family time. We stayed until late afternoon, when Sophia could no longer keep her eyes open and headed home for nap-time. Sophia took a good nap while we got everything ready for the afternoon/evening Christmas with Matthew's family. Whit, Sue and Alisha came, with car loaded, over to us. It was the first time in all of our Christmases together that we had Christmas at our house. And it was amazing. It was so nice to have Sophia in her own environment (especially considering she woke up from her nap in a less-than-stellar mood, and she was able to get back to herself in her own home). We enjoyed an evening of family time, gifts, stockings, and dinner. After getting Sophia down for bed we spent the evening playing some new games and laughed more than we had in a really long time. (Matthew and Alisha both make it a rule of thumb to say things in games that make their mom uncomfortable, so you can only imagine the topics that were coming up!)

Christmas day with Grandma Sue!

She asked me to come in for coffee...or Matthew suggested I get in there and then the asking began...how do you say no to a face like that???!

And to finish up our Christmas celebrations, we had a 3rd Chrsitmas celebration the following day with GG & Papa. It was great to be with family for 3 whole days celebrating such an important day. Somehow, Christmas with a child of your own just takes on a whole new level of emotion as you think about God sending his son to Earth to die for us. Thinking about the day of Jesus's birth and what God had planned for his son on that day makes it even more an event to be thankful for.

And then New Years....Carly and I took on a whole new cooking challenge; Tamales. And for a couple of white girls, they turned out perfect!