Oh Yeah! Christmas and stuff.

Holy Granola. Christmas has come and gone. This year was significant as we went from a couple to a family! Twas the second married Christmas for Ryan and I and our first with Leilani! So weird that this same time last year, she was just a kicking, nausea inducing (but still adorable) bump.

Christmas 2009

What a year it has been...

Lei managed to be cranky for a lot of the weekend. Probably cause the little bit of a schedule that we were working on went up in smoke. It made for hard picture taking. (Yes I will blame the lame pictures on a stressy baby instead of my horrible photography skills.)

Christmas Eve was spent with Ryan's family and we had a really nice evening. They had decorated beautifully, cooked deliciously and it was the most relaxing part of the whole weekend.

Cranky.

She climbed her first mountain. Having never practiced before (our condo has no stairs) I found it to be quite an impressive feat!

She was more interested in the coffee table, other people's gifts, and the random crumb on her shirt than her gifts. After several tries, she sorta got the idea and made it through one gift.

Twinkle lights were everywhere! Oh, my, goodness. I want to eat her cheeks. She really is the most adorable person ever its almost too much to look at without me getting teary.

(One of my first attempts at no flash. Yes. It has taken me this long to try.)

At church on Christmas morning!

I think this may be the second fluffy dress I have put her in her whole life. Not because I don't like the gorgeous little poufs that are baby girl dresses, I love them. I just can't imagine how a pile of tulle and ruffles around the knees of a crawling little person is comfortable. I am too much of a creature of comfort myself to subject her to regular bouts with tights and frills. But gosh they are cute. Cept I had to mar the cuteness by sticking a onsie underneath her dress. Hey, it was cold (Snowing!) and the dress seemed itchy. At least the onsie matched...

Anywhoooo... After church, we went to Ryan's aunts house, as is tradition, and partied it up familylike the rest of the day. I always thought I had a loud, big family, with 6 younger siblings, two grandparents, one cousin and an aunt and uncle all nearby. Then I met Ryan's family. As an extrovert, there is nothing quite so great as a house full of laughing aunts, uncles, cousins, 7 little children under 6, 2 dogs, food and gifts. Totally awesome. Also as is tradition, the living room held a lively politics debate between the only 2 republicans in the family (Ryan and a cousin) and assorted aunts, uncles and cousins, who are all democrats. The craziness that was Christmas happily wore us out! AND we left the camera in the car and I was too lazy to go get it. Yep. I am a committed memory catcher.

The next early afternoon we headed to my parent's house for a smaller version of the day before. I just love my parent's living room all dressed up for Christmas. A mantel crowded with stockings, a cozy fire in the wood stove, a delicious breakfast making everything smell festive... No place like home. After a late start to the day, we eventually wrapped up (or finished unwrapping, har har) at my parents and everyone went up the road to my grandparents. So cool to have both of them living right up the road. Mom and I stayed behind an hour to finish preparing the turkey dinner. I seem to have missed all the cooking with my mom the past few holidays, so it was really nice to spend that time together. Once all assembled with my mom's brother, his wife, their daughter, and all the Spinolos at Papa and Granny's, we spent much of the time digging people out of wrapping paper, debating if the baby was too tired to go back to my mom's for dinner, and watching the SNOW!!!! come down outside. Lots of memories in that livingroom. It gets more crowded every year! We all made it back over to Grammy and Grandpa's before Leilani decided that enough was enough. Granted, it was super late. We managed to get food eaten, gifts loaded into the car and an unhappy tired person home before collapsing ourselves. Busy, busy weekend! I am so thankful for my families and for the blessing of having them all near. Leilani is so blessed to be able to grow up surrounded by so much happy family.

And now, all in an unattractive, disorganized pile, the pictures I managed to take for Christmas Part 2.


Breakfast! Nothing like pumpkin muffins...


Family devotions before gifts.



The BEST pajamas ever. And a trap door on the back? Favorite.


Aunt Abi and matching pajamas


Grammy!


Unpacking her stocking and a new hat!


Laughing at Grandpa





At the end of a long day, riiiiight before the meltdown. It is amazing how quick she can go from perky to done. Too bad super tired never guarantees a full night of sleep though. Oh well. It was not a restful weekend, but it sure was great. Thank You Lord for so much blessing.

The End