What a memorable Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas is already over.  Steven and I started our shopping on November 1st and I finished up most of it by Thanksgiving.. we never start our shopping unitl Black Friday but we knew this year we wouldn't be able to do any shopping with the baby coming so we got it done early.  It's so strange to think that we began preparing for Christmas day almost 2 months ago and it's over in a few short hours.

We had a wonderful Christmas!  We spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Patty's house and enjoyed time with great family  The kids did a gift exchage - Gabrielle got some adorable clothes, a fun rattle and a super cute Baby's 1st Christmas frame!  Gavin got a neat dinosaur/dragon book and an orange "puter" (computer) that he loves to play with!  All the adults did a gift exchange too, which was a lot of fun.  I haven't done one of those in a long time and it was fun to see who would steal gifts from people and what everyone ended up with.  Steven got some cool Eagles/Phillies stuff and I got some lottery tickets.. too bad I didn't win any $$.

After our Christmas Eve celebration we went home and let Gav open a gift.  Too bad for him it was only his Christmas pajamas, but he seemed excited.  He went to bed without a fight, thank goodness!!  Steven and I were up for about another hour or so getting everything situated for Christmas day then it was time for bed.  Gabrielle slept fairly well Christmas Eve night, she must have known Santa was watching =)  She woke up around 5 a.m. for a bottle and my hubby was jumping on the bed and super excited for Christmas.. I love his youthful spirit but I was not ready to start the day at 5 a.m.!!  Thankfully she went back to bed for a couple of hours and we started our Christmas day around 8 a.m. when Gav woke up.

Gav's face was just glowing when he came down the stairs and saw all the gifts under the tree.. there's nothing in the world that can compare to seeing a smile on your child's face =)  We opened some gifts and played for a while.  Gav got some great toys and Steven and I got some pretty awesome gifts too!  Steven gave me a new watch, a couple new CDs, a devotional book, a WVU blanket, a beautiful Willow Tree plaque and a snowman charm for my Pandora bracelet.  [He's a great hubby!]  I also got a Shirley Temple book and doll from my mother-in-law.. it's very special to both her and me =)

My brother-in-law Michael and his girlfriend Amanda came over for a little while to give Gav his Christmas gift.  He loves seeing his Uncle Mike and Aunt Manda!  I also love seeing them and love love seeing Steven spend time with his brother =)

Aunt Donna, Uncle Wayne, David and Christina came over to give the kids their gifts and to hang out!  Once again they all got the kids awesome gifts and everyone had fun playing with them =)  I also got to play with Aunt Donna's new camera.. very nice!!  Thankfully they stayed to enjoy dinner with us.  My family came over around 4 p.m. and we had dinner before opening more gifts.  I made an 11 pound ham this year and to everyone's surprise it was actually very good!!  We don't do a sit down dinner at Christmas, mainly because we don't have a big enough place to seat that many people all together so everyone was spread out in different rooms but it was still really good!  After dinner we opened gifts with my family and again we were all blessed with great things!  Gav got some great new toys.. which we don't have room for!.. and Gabby got some great stuff too.  I got a super nice sweater, special books for Gavin and Gabby, a couple gift cards and some other special gifts and my hubby got a CD, a movie and saddlebags for his motorcycle!!

As you can tell we had a very wonderful, memorable Christmas!  We really have an amazing family and are extremely lucky to have all that we have.  I'm so grateful for my husband - he was such a big help with Christmas.. all the cleaning and the preparing.. he's just awesome!!  And once again he made me cry this year with his card and his thoughtful gifts - I am one lucky lady =)

Today I took both kids to a little Christmas celebration at my aunt and uncle's house in Coatesville.  I was a little lot nervous about my first trip with both kids by myself but it was actually a very nice trip!  Gabrielle got to meet several family members for the first time, which is always very special.  Both kids got great gifts from Aunt Lou-Lou and Uncle John and it was nice to see some family we haven't seen in a while.

Gabrielle had a great first Christmas - she got to meet some of her family for the first time and she got some really special gifts.  Although she won't remember this Christmas there will be plenty of photos for her to look at one day =)  Here are some of my favorites from the Christmas holiday.  I hope everyone had a great holiday with their family/friends.

"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so blessed.