First up, let's review Christmas morning here at our house. This was the first Christmas morning maybe since moving in that we woke up here. I think? Regardless- it made it much easier for Santa to find us, and that he did. Who WOULDN'T have been lured in by those prize-winning cookies?!
Emery's haul from Santa on the top and Brynn's on the bottom. Clearly he thought they were good this year.
This was Emery's first year to sort of "get" Christmas since she was only 9 months at the time last year. We had been trying to teach her who Santa was and what he did if you were good. I thought our efforts were fairly fruitless, but when we woke her up Christmas morning I asked her if she remembered who might have come to visit her the night before. She looked at me and said "Dan-ta?" So perhaps like her father, she's listening even when I don't think she is.
When Emery first walked into the sitting room where Santa left her presents, Ryan had our nice camera set up on the tripod to film her reaction. Her first words? "Paw paw," as she excitedly pointed at the tripod. Even Emery knows my Dad is the paparazzi. It took her a few minutes to notice the presents and even then she was pretty skeptical.
Wait wait wait. You mean after weeks of getting after me for touching boxes that looked like this under the tree, you are encouraging me to mess with these? It feels like a trick.
You're sure about this?
We finally convinced her that the presents were for her and that she could open them. It took her a bit to get into that too. I would like to think that the fact that she's still so hesitant to assume presents are for her and that she should rip into them is a sign of her being a giving and selfless child by nature but I'm pretty sure it's more a function of her being young last Christmas.
Okay fiiiiine. If I must.
Each present took about 3 minutes to open because she would rip off an approximately 1" x 1" square, hand it to me and say "trash!" I would take the piece and say "thank you," and she would say "thank you," and we would rinse and repeat for the next piece. It was pretty freaking cute.
Turns out clothes are not fun for children of any age. Her response? "For da bebe!"
This was her big gift from Santa this year- a stroller! As you can see, she was pretty pumped about it. This did not elicit a "for da bebe!"
Were you wondering where Brynn was for all the excitement? Snoozing. On her belly.
Hey hey hey- can we move faster over here Dad? I have some plans for that "koh-leur" (stroller- not sure why it has a k).
Future lawn woman in training?
So... is this tree going to magically produce some more presents or what? I'm ready.
Both: Ahhhh... it's happening again!
Em: Hey! Where you going bebe? Brynn: Out. Must get out.
Em: Mama, what's her deal? Brynn: Time is of the essence here guys.
We mentioned that the stroller was so she could take her babies on walks. She assumed that meant RIGHT NOW.
I am so used to spending Christmas morning at one of our parents' houses that I wasn't sure if spending it just the 4 of us together would feel like Christmas. I was definitely wrong. It was so special to get to see and experience Emery's excitement and wonder quietly together. It absolutely warmed my heart... I already can't wait for next year when Brynn starts to join in on the fun.
After we finished opening the girls' presents from Santa, we quickly got the little misses dressed, threw the last few items and Lola into the car and headed over to stop #1 on our Christmas tour o' Texas- Ryan's parents' house. Getting 2 kiddos under 2, 2 adults, 1 massive dog and all their associated luggage for 5 days away out the door by 9:30 am is a real workout. I'm not sure what the temperature was outside, but this Mama was definitely "glistening" (you can't sweat on Christmas- it's science).
Whaaaat are you doing? Didn't we take enough of these this morning for the entire day?
Whoa Dad. Haven't you heard of personal space?
Heart melted.
At Ryan's parents' house for the first time in a while, we got to see both Pam, Bob & Jenny AND Grandpa & Nancy. It was a true Christmas miracle. Ryan's Mom treated us to a delicious brunch of ham, potatoes, danishes and donuts, wisely, prior to the chaos that was gifts. After getting our bellies full of goodness, we all sat down to open presents. I've never been involved in a tornado, but I assume it would feel fairly similar to opening presents with 10 adults, a 4 year old, a 1 year old and a 5 week old, but with less glitter and exclamations of "look at THIS!"
It was, of course, so much fun to watch the joy in Emery's face as she opened her presents with her Daddy (she had improved quite a bit since her morning go-round), but what warmed my heart most was watching her with her cousin. To say she was obsessed with Kylie would be an understatement. Emery was on Kylie like white on rice. She wanted to look at everything Kylie got, to do everything Kylie did and to sit by her at all times. It was seriously adorable. Like puppies playing with kittens level cuteness. Kylie was so sweet and patient with Em too. It's been so fun watching these girls grow up and I can only imagine how much more there is to look forward to- especially with a new partner in crime.
I'm not sure there are enough gifts here.
Grandpa, Nancy and little Miss Brynn.
My Indiana family would prob at our fire when it's like 60 degrees out.
Kylie doing work on her balance bike.
Emery has zero idea what this is but she anything that requires more adult attention gets her stamp of approval.
Little girls flock to Ryan. They can sense how much he likes Mean Girls and Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Hey, nice to meet you. Mind if I use you as a bed? And potentially drool on you? Great.
Emery doling out Christmas gifts. Some day she'll learn those envelope types are usually the best ones.
Open dat, Da-ee. OPEN!
Hmmmm... what next?
I told you. All up in her cousin's business.
Our little elf. Surrounded by a sea of Minnie. This is probably exactly what her dreams look like.
Proof Tiff and Jenny were there.
She looks way too big here for my approval.
We, and our tiny lovebugs, were BEYOND spoiled. In fact we scored so much awesome loot that we had to leave it with Ryan's parents because it wouldn't all fit in our car. That is a LOT of gifts people. While I know the girls were bummed to leave their presents behind, the added bonus is that it meant we had a re-run of Christmas after we returned home from my parents' house and picked up their Martin family haul.
As you might expect, the Martin family side of Christmas was perfect this year- from getting to experience Christmas morning for the first time as a family of four to getting to see so much extended family- we had an incredible time. Thank you to all who were there and played a part. Up next: Christmas with my side of the family (spoiler alert: the perfection continued).
Happy first Christmas as a foursome! Can't wait to see them in a year!
ReplyDelete