A Christmas to remember!

Sophia in her Santa outfit Katie got
her on Christmas Eve

We had the most wonderful Christmas with our families this year! It started off with a nice small get together for Christmas Eve at Jeff's parents with some aunts, uncles and cousins we hadn't seen in a very long time! It was so nice to visit with them and catch up, not to mention laugh until our sides hurt! Jeff's mom made a delicious dinner and we opened gifts and just relaxed. It was a lot of fun! Once we got home we put Sophia to bed, and it was now time for us to be Santa. Since Sophia loves to pull all of my pots and pans out of the cupboards and pretend like she is cooking, we thought it would be a good idea to get Sophia her own little play kitchen set for Christmas. So Jeff put it all together and we set it up in front of the Christmas tree along with filling her stocking and putting some other presents out by the tree. I have to admit, as tired as I was, I almost couldn't sleep Christmas Eve night, because I was so excited to see Sophia's face when she woke up in the morning.

Sophia's little reindeer feet on her Christmas PJ's

Christmas morning Jeff and I woke up around 7:30, and went out by the tree to wait for Sophia to wake up. Fortunately Jeff's family lives fairly close so his parents and sister, Katie, and her husband, Kevin, came over early before Sophia woke up to watch her open her gifts from Santa. Around 8:15 am Jeff went upstairs to see if she was awake. She hadn't made a peep, and was just up there hanging out in bed. As we sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting excitedly for her to come down, Jeff and Sophia appeared at the top of the stairs. Sophia looked at us all and smiled and was in such a great mood! Hand in hand Jeff and Sophia slowly came down the stairs and at first Sophia didn't realize her big kitchen set, she was just so excited to see everyone there waiting for her so early in the morning. Then once we showed her the kitchen set Santa had brought her, that's all she wanted to play with! She was pretending to make us coffee and food and then she would bring it to each of us. The cutest part was that she would watch us eat or drink it and then take it back and ask us "more"?

Sophia laughing when Jeff showed her the burner
made a boiling sound

After that we began opening all of our presents to each other, while we tried to get Sophia to part from her kitchen to open one present every now and then. Once we were finished around 10:00 am, my family and siblings came over and we all enjoyed a yummy breakfast (courtesy of Nelson and Kevin). I kept trying to get in there and help cook, but they kept kicking me out telling me to relax, lol. The breakfast was soooo good, complete with french toast, eggs, hash browns, and bacon! We all enjoyed our breakfast together and visited. It was so relaxing and such a wonderful blessing to have both sides of our families all together at our house on Christmas morning!

After a while, Jeff's parents, Katie and Kevin left because they had to go home to get ready for Christmas dinner at there house. We then opened presents with my family and hung out for a while. Sophia got so many wonderful gifts that I'm sure will keep her busy for a VERY long time! Among them were books, coloring books, Alphabet puzzles, a motorized Barbie quad and an art easel. She absolutely loves to draw and was always coloring on my little sister's easel every time she went over to their house so my mom really wanted to get her an easel of her own. It's really cool because it comes with a side that has a chalk board and then a side with a dry erase board and 75 magnetic letters to help her learn the alphabet. Jeff and I also got her a baby doll with a highchair, car seat and baby bassinet. We want her to learn how to help take care of her little sister once she is born and how to be gentle and kind to her. Sophia was quite burned out by the end of opening all of her presents, so we put her down for a nap with her new sponge Bob blanket and pillow (she is obsessed with Sponge Bob!). Jeff and I were just as pooped as she was, so we laid down for a little cat nap as well, before we had to get up and get ready to go over to my grandparents for Christmas dinner. It was so nice to have some down time to rest and relax with Jeff before we had to rush off again!

This Christmas had to be one of my very favorites by far, not because of any of the presents, but because I got to see my daughter's eyes light up with excitement and because we enjoyed a wonderful morning with both of our families all together. And though it was a FULL house and a bit squishy, it just made Christmas complete to have all the people we loved all together under one roof celebrating the birth of Christ!