Christmas

It was so very magical. It was Christmas, and Noah was here, so that pretty much sums it up! :)

Some details might be nice...I hear ya...

On Christmas Eve we went to the Bay Area for Christmas with my extended family! Noah got to play with my younger cousins whom he adores. He just loves the big kids, and they love him. I don't have any great pictures because I had FREE babysitting and I lounged around, ate some great food, drank some champagne, and lounged some more...yes!  I do have a few iphone photos that are just ok, and at least you can still see Noah in his Christmas sweater (melt my heart) and our annual Gingerbread decorating contest. Everyone had a lot of fun and took on the challenge very seriously. Me? I made mine very quickly, then went back to my lounging... When I heard others were taking their time and amping up the competition I (graciously) took mine out of the contest by eating it-shocking right? Noah loved all the toys the older girls had. My Auntie Sue and Uncle Gerry had lots of music boxes, etc that Noah was very entertained by. They even had a dancing Santa.  Here are a couple collages of the day!

Then we came home and Justin and I went to a beautiful Christmas Eve service. My parents spent the night and we all woke up together on Christmas morning. It's fun having a full house on Christmas morning and it was very special to have them with us. We began our morning slowly with a homemade pastry and hot chocolate, followed by stockings :) I love stockings! I enjoy buying for others as well as opening my own ;) We seem to laugh a lot when we open stockings...sigh...I already miss the feeling of that morning. 

We slowly began opening presents and enjoying our morning together. Noah got his first bike from Nonni and Pa, which we were really excited about. J and I got a big surprise from my parents...a new TV! Wahoo! Murray opened a big surprise as well...a trip to Hawaii...we must have been good this year. After a leisurely morning of lounging and opening presents we had some lunch and then it was time to switch gears. Justin had to fly Christmas evening, so he left the house mid afternoon. My Auntie Chris came up for the day, which was a real treat! After Noah's nap we went up to my parents house to finish off our wonderful Christmas Day.  We watched Christmas movies, lounged around, and enjoyed family time.  The majority of the pictures are action shots because trying to get Noah to stop for a moment was just not happening...too excited! 

Stockings :)

"Daddy, make this car go vroom vroom"

Murray opening his surprise! His facial expressions crack me up ;)

His bike!!!

A break for a hug...then more bike.

Daddy wasn't feeling good :( In fact, he became very sick the day of and days after Christmas.

His gift from Auntie Chris-cars and a track!