Christmas: Round 2

So after recuperating on Tuesday (Christmas Day), we had our "Christmas" on Wednesday. We had my parents, Sarah and my Uncle Fred over that morning for gifts and brunch. They came over as Lyla was getting up. The night before, Adam was amazing and made all the breakfast casseroles and got everything ready for "Christmas" morning. Luckily I had gone to the grocery store before I went down on Monday.

I got up before Lyla to take a shower and get ready. This girl can sleep in!! I have been so blessed by a child that loves her bed and loves her sleep. There was so hard work on our part in the beginning, but she is not an early riser and for that I am thankful! So anyways, I wanted to be ready to head downstairs as soon as she woke up. I texted my family to let them know when she started getting up so they could head on over.

We took our traditional pictures on the stairs. Our FIRST Christmas in our new, forever house. It was so FUN to get to take those treasured pictures with Lyla sitting on her stairs for the very first time in the house she will grow up in and remember taking pictures on the stairs, every Christmas morning. 

We missed our Allison though!

Look what Santa brought!

We have not really decided how we will treat the whole Santa-thing. We know there are SO many opinions and STRONGLY opinionated people out there about this topic. Lyla loved talking about Santa "Ho-Ho" this holiday season, but she also loved talking about the Baby Jesus as well. We are teaching our child about the Grace and Love of her Father and how He sent His Son for us. I also think that as a young child there is so much fun in imagination, pretending and having fun with those parts of the Holiday (or all year long!). We do not tell her if she is bad, Santa won't bring her any presents. After all, Jesus did not come because we were good, in fact, just the opposite. We will have fun with Santa in the family as long as Lyla wants to. There is something so child-like with the "magic" of Santa. It is fun. It is simple. It will not take away from her knowing her Savior. After all, there is nothing I can do to assure her salvation anyways. It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit in her. The End.

Little People Princesses!

"Help Aunt Da"

New Books.

"Ho-Ho-Ho"

Time to see what is in my stocking.

A loofa for the bath-tub.

Nail polish!

Barney Stickers!

What else?!

Socks. Everyone needs those.

Tools like Daddy!

Can't wait to build something with daddy!

Gramps enjoying the action.

Sarah is old...her back gave out....Hahaha.

New Melissa and Doug Easel with a chalkboard, whiteboard and paper roll for coloring and painting.

Our first Christmas tree in our house.

I actually decorated THREE trees in our in our new house this year. I LOVE Christmas trees. I had a little pink tree with lights in Lyla's room that she got to decorate. Then I had a fun tree for the playroom, that you could see from the street. That tree was decorated with pink, purple, green and blue. So fun! And then I had a HUGE tree in our family room that took me an entire weekend to set up, fluff and decorate. No my husband does not help with any part of the decorating, which is fine with me. I enjoy it so much. This tree in the family room was serious though! The previous owner left it for us, he must have gotten the memo that I LOVE all things Christmas. This tree was TALL. We have a two-story ceiling in our family room and this tree was perfect for it. I am not good with guessing how tall things are, but it was at least 9-10 feet tall. I had to be on a ladder to decorate it, which I guess does not really say much, but hey, this was the biggest tree I have decorated, and I loved it. The nice thing is that all of our trees are fake. Yes I know how NICE real trees are, but the whole saving money thing for me makes me enjoy the fact that I can reuse my trees year after year. But I must admit I do miss that "real" tree smell!

All the presents.

Uncle Fred!

Gramps, Mimi and Sarah.

Time to open presents!

A little help from Aunt Da.

What is it?!

A keyboard from Mimi and Gramps!

Came with a microphone....

...and a stool!

Who wants to produce her first record?!

Hat and coat from Nonnie and Papa Joe.

Crayons for her art easel.

Trying out the white board.

After opening presents, which consisted of a new watch for both Adam and I, an aquarium annual pass,  new clothes for Adam, and purse for Sarah, clothes for Sarah, a record player for my dad, an Omaha steak package for my dad, necklaces and Vera Bradley for my mom....over all what can I say? Such a blessed Christmas. We always get more than we deserve. One thing I do want to remember is how much Lyla LOVED opening presents. She helped every single person open every single present. She would bring each person their present and open it with them. She did not care that what was inside was not for her, she just LOVED opening the gifts. SO much fun to watch. 

After all the gifts were open, we enjoyed a wonderful brunch made completely by Adam and just enjoyed the day together.  After we were done eating, my mom, Sarah and I went out to do a little after Christmas shopping, since after all it was the day after Christmas. We could not miss the sales! I hit the jackpot and stocked up on lots of Christmas decorations that I cannot wait to incorporate next year. After shopping til we dropped, we came back to our house for a yummy Christmas dinner and game night. Just one more Christmas blog and then I am done writing about Christmas...I promise!!