Yay Christmas!

Christmas morning.

It was fabulous. Very relaxed.

We slept in until 10am.

Brad played with Noah while I made cinnamon rolls.

We didn't pressure Noah into playing with his toys. He took a couple of breaks, and in between, we'd open our gifts from eachother. My big gift is going to sound silly... but I got towels. That was the one thing I begged Brad to get me for Christmas. I needed new towels.

You see, just in the last year, we've had a lot of house guests. And more often than not, we didn't have enough towels to go around. In this event, beach towels were grabbed as a last resort.

I was mortified.

I think I hid it well, but deep down, I was dying of embarrasment.

I know it's silly to be that way, because I logically know that nobody cared. But it still bothered me.

And I got my nice beautiful, new towels, washcloths, and rug.

I'm redoing Noah's bathroom soon, and this is where these will go. They're a gorgeous plum (eggplant?) color. I'll be painting the walls in there a very pale green. I'm excited about it. :)

Brad's big gift from me? An airsoft rifle. He was pretty surprised and super happy about it. He used to have an old Daisy BB gun, but it got lost after he moved. This one totally kicks Daisy's rear end. It has a scope and everything. Don't worry, it will not be used anywhere near Noah or the dogs. Brad is incredibly over-protective, so no worries.


(uuumm... yeah. those are Cheddar Bunnies Noah spilled on the floor...)

Noah's favorite toy turned out to be exactly the one I thought it'd be...

His drum.

It has other little instruments in it, but all he wants to do is play the drum. I guess it runs in our family?

(Both my dad and my little brother are incredible at the drums).

Santa brought Noah a cool double ramp toy.
(look at that hair!)

I'm pretty sure this is going to turn out a lot like his birthday... he'll discover the toys in a month or so and become obsessed. It's weird. But I think there's just too much to look at all at once.

Oh, and look who showed up in Noah's stocking!



Christmas afternoon.

We eventually got ourselves somewhat presentable and headed on over to my grandparents' house (my dad's parents). We've been going there for lunch since I was born, so this was my one no-compromise after marriage. I'll rearrange pretty much everything else, but I get to keep my grandparents' Christmas tradition. I've written several times about how my extended family on that side gets together often to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Well, I'm not the only one that has resolved to keep Christmas with them going. Every one of my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc all attend. We do the whole Secret Santa thing, and that's always fun. I've gotten my cousin Aaron's name twice in a row. His sister Elizabeth got my name this year and gave me an awesome digital photo player. LOVE those.

Noah handled it all pretty well. It's a lot of people, and he was hitting his nap time. At one point, I ran upstairs to grab him a couple of toys from the rec room. I guess he didn't see me walk away. I heard my aunt calling for Brad, "Brad! Hurry, Noah doesn't know where yall are." I ran back down to see Brad carrying a sad, scared little boy. All of those people wearing the same colored pants, and none of them belonged to his mommy or daddy. Poor baby.

It took us a while, but we finally got him to go down for a nap in the back bedroom. Unfortunately, he missed all of the present opening, but that's okay. He probably would've been overwhelmed and gotten lost in the madness of paper flying and "Thank You" being shouted across the room. His nap gave me the perfect chance to hold my newest cousin, baby Easton, who is an absolute babydoll. The child never cries. Honestly.
My aunt (his grandmother) tells my mom (yes, they're friends) how much she loved Noah and how relaxed he was, and now she has her own little Noah. :)
My baby cousin, Nathan, and his new wife (they got married last May) had their own little surprise... they're expecting! So Brittany got a chance to get some practice in by holding little Easton as well.
Sadly, he ended up soaking through his diaper an hour later. I hate it when he does that. It just looks so uncomfortable. I'd hate to be woken up like that! He wasn't sure where he was when he woke up, so we never were able to get him to go back to sleep... which made for a very sleepy boy. He's still such a good sport. He somehow stays happy and tolerable. Not too much whining, which is a miracle in itself.

My aunt and uncle stayed after everyone else left and were able to see Noah open his gifts (or us open for him as he occasionally glanced at them).

Christmas gifts from the grandparents' house:

(I'm going to try my best to remember them all)

a Little People tractor

soft monster truck that makes noise

a "Noah bell"

(fyi, it looks like this...

not particularly beautiful, but the sound it makes is gorgeous)

another Pooh ornament

overalls (yes!) and a cute shirt to go with it

a couple of cars

Noah was hungry after his nap, so we got to hang out with my grandparents for a bit, while we waited for him to finish his PB&J. Brad raided their fridge and found the bean dip. So he and Noah both snacked.

Christmas evening.

This year, Brad's brother and his wife Sara invited us over for Christmas dinner. We headed on over there, and they cooked an amazing meal. I have yet to try and cook a whole turkey, so anyone that attempts it and is successful at it totally impresses me.

Anyway, Brad's parents also came, along with our niece Annah and nephew Kalyb.

I gave Brad a Steelers jacket for Christmas, so we did a guys' picture with all of their Steelers gear on. His family happens to be huge fans, so he was really excited about his jacket.

(fyi, that's a scarf around Kalyb's head... and watch, it looks like he never moved between this picture and the next)

Ben's boys wanted to be included. :)

Where was Noah, you ask?
Hanging out with his Granddad.

And then we had a Christmas miracle.

It snowed.

On Christmas.

We had a white Christmas.

I've never, ever seen that here, so I was in heaven.

Doubting Brad told me before we arrived at the inlaw's that there was no way; it was too warm. So I said a quick prayer and asked for snow for Christmas, as long as nobody got hurt. As far as I know, only a few people got in a wreck (but not injured), and it was because they were out doing doughnuts. :)

Noah loved the snow. He was fascinated.

He kept giggling at it as it fell from the sky. He would look up in total awe. He would laugh as he felt it land on his head. After we'd take him inside, he'd periodically go back to the door and look back at us to take him out again. So we did. And he was so happy.

So out of all the gifts I could've received this year, my favorite had to have been from the Lord. Not only for his birth and eventual sacrifice on my behalf...

But for being able to come home to this: