Milk & Cookies

It appears our cookies and milk
did the trick! Santa came to visit
our good little girl!

 We started our morning off by putting Jesus in the manger to teach Evey that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus's birth. After that, it was time to unwrap presents! After stuffing her stocking, Santa put three special gifts for Evey, just like Jesus got.

All four of Evey's grandparents came over to celebrate our first Christmas with our daughter, and it was such a blessing to share that special time with them.

Evey loved unwrapping the presents, and consequently, chewing on the wrapping paper! I loved having her first Christmas at this age where she still looks at everything with such wonder. Everything is still new to her and she is in awe. It was beautiful.

Evey's stocking was filled with some awesome goodies! She got a Silly Songs CD with 50 songs, a soft teething ring and a MP3 player (for baby, of course!). Also in her stocking were two collector coins - one was a birth coin for 2011 which was exactly an ounce of silver. The second was a gold dollar. These were placed in her treasure chest as an heirloom for generations to come.

From Mommy & Papa she got a book that I wrote especially for her. I included pictures of her
and told her how she was created in the image of God. She loved touching the photos...

...and chewing on the spine!

The three gifts that Santa brought were the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy (which she ended up with two of by the time the season was over... [great choice John & Heather! LOL]), a Lights & Songs Ball and her first Build-A-Bear: a bunny, named Emaline. She loved getting to know her new toys through touch and taste and her Papa and I loved introducing her to them!

Playing with Nana!

It was great to have the grandparents around to take pictures for us, and to play with Evey while Christopher and I opened our presents from each other. It looks like we both made it to the "nice" list as well!

Christopher got one big gift that intertwined with all his presents. I did a mini-scrapbook for him called: A Day Off For The World's Best Dad! Each page had a different coupon that he could redeem for "him-time." I had his presents numbered to correspond.

1. Chef's Day Off: Pick a Day and I'll do the cooking. Pick a meal and I'll do the shopping.

2. The TV is yours for the day - open gifts 1 & 2. (I gave him a 4-pack of Monster Energy Drinks and Batman: Arkham Asylum for the X-Box).

3. Consider your "honey-do" list done.

4. A Night at the Movies (included a $25.00 gift card to Movie Tavern).

5. Enjoy a night of worry free painting, but at least work on your own figures...

6. ...when you're done, call Tom for a day of D & D!

7. Open gifts 4 & 5 - it's time for a night in! (He got a $20.00 gift certificate to our favorite sushi take-out - Hananoki and The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, Exteneded Edition, on blu-ray.

8. Take the family, or go alone. It's your day to hike in camp in the Gorge.

9. Enjoy a day at the track, no strings attached. (Once the season starts, I'll be paying for one of his race days!)

10. Need a night out with the guys? Go out for a drink or stay in and Evey and I will leave! It's your day!

I laughed as Christopher opened his LOTR because we'd been planning a movie marathon for the day after Christmas. He wanted to do Harry Potter, and I wanted to do Lord of the Rings. Now, he knew why!

This is my favorite picture of me from this holiday season. It sums up my world, and I couldn't be happier! I love being able to breastfeed Evey, and it's not always the most convenient timing, but I love the bond that it has given us.

As I began opening my gifts, Christopher said I trumped him this Christmas, but I definitely didn't feel left out!
My stocking was stuffed with candy and two CD's: Ben Folds, Lovely Avenue and Punk Goes Pop 3! I've been wanting the Ben Folds CD for over a year, so I was thrilled!

Something else I'd been researching for months was a locket. I really wanted one that looked old, or that was one-of-a-kind, but I had trouble finding one I really loved. At the beginning of the month, I found one on Etsy that had an owl on a branch in front of the moon. Painted on it was "I love you to the moon and back" and I was hooked.

I was definitely surprised to find it under the tree! Now, it's full of pictures of my girl and I love showing it off!

My final present was hilarious.
I quickly figured out why Christopher wanted to have a Harry Potter marathon instead!

Just FYI: We finally settled on Harry Potter and it took us three days to finish. Now we're in the process of LOTR!

I think Evey looks so much like her Mipa - which I don't mind at all!

Mipa  *  Evey  *  Mimi

I've said it before, and I'll say it over and over again. Evey has the most amazing grandparents on both sides. I'm so grateful for all of them!

What an amazing and relaxing morning we had! Having a daughter has made the holidays mean so much more to me. Instead of just celebrating the birth of Christ, I get the honor of teaching her what the season is all about!