merry christmas!

I have been so excited about Christmas this year. I have enjoyed decking our home out in bright lights and colors making it homey and cheerful for Emmy. It turned out that the bright light, delicate ornaments and mercury glass accessories proved too tempting for a toddler and many of my usual decorations were quickly hidden away. 
Emmy is into everything now. She's a bubbling bit of energy, destroying everything in her path.  She has impatient moments, frustrated screams and total meltdowns and basically everything we ever heard about the "terrible twos". Still, she doesn't have a menacing heart, I've been somewhat patient with her while she learns to speak and listen. I've decided to take some good advice and just laugh at her a little every now and then. 
Our first Christmas was spent in Huntsville with Joe's family. Like all good families, time away doesn't seem to exist. The moment everyone is together, you're all just family and it's so much fun.

We had another little Christmas with Joe's dad on the 23rd. 

Jonathan had spent all day cooking a turkey for everyone. He also made creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. His wife was at work so he bought some new fancy spices and did everything on his own. The only problem was that he bought some sea salt. Those giant chunks of salt are about 100x stronger than regular salt and it made all the food taste like salt! We could tell that it was otherwise good but we couldn't eat any of it. Luckily, the turkey was great and we had some apple pie for dessert. 

Emmy spent the whole night chasing their kitties around the house. She rode on Jonathan's back saying, "here kicky kicky, meow meow". It was hilarious to watch those cats scurry and slide across the hardwoods trying to escape her. 

On Christmas Eve we drove up to Centre to see Joe's other side of the family. 

His grandparents grilled steaks and baked potatoes for dinner (yummm). I helped cook while Emmy entertained the family with dancing and singing. After dinner, we opened presents and let me just say, our little girl RACKED.UP. She is the first and only grandchild/great-grandchild on that side of the family and they just couldn't help themselves. 

One of my favorite gifts was this little guitar that Emmy immediately picked up and started playing. She loved everything she got. Each doll got a hug and a kiss, every book was opened and every gifter was thanked. We were so proud of her and her few (however dramatic) meltdowns were easily quelled with a little quiet time in a spare bedroom. 

We got home around 9:30 and my sweet sister and her husband were there waiting on us, cookies in the oven. We got Emmy to bed and brought in Emmy's loot and played Santa together. We were too excited to sleep and I got wrapped in this book I'm reading and stayed up way too late. I hoped to sleep in but my excitement got the best of me and Joe and I were up at 6:45AM.

We always sneak down at different times to fill each other's stockings so we can both be a little surprised too. We didn't bother wrapping much this year but I was so happy to be able to have some coffee and open gifts and go through our stockings just the two of us before Emmy got up so we could enjoy each other's company without all the excitement that is Emmy.

Courtney and Alex arrived just as Emmy was waking up so they got to experience her seeing the gifts with us. She loves her "ikea table hack" and I can't decide who has played with that chalkboard more - me or her. She adored her little tea set and stopping to pour tea and take little sips or offer sips to Alex. 

My sister bought her the "hug me" Elmo which Emmy both loves and runs from. My dad and Paula came over and we had a delicious breakfast of hashbrown casserole, sausage and cinnamon rolls. They bought Emmy so many books. I was excited to get something I'd wanted for her, something she will cherish for many years to come. 

After a quick nap we all headed over to my mom's house for Christmas dinner. 

Little Hannah wasn't feeling well and my mom had hurt her back so it was down to the girls to cook dinner while the boys entertained the babies.

 

We actually had quite a lot of fun cooking (and drinking a little crown). We had so much fun that at some point I looked over into the dining room to see the whole centerpiece on fire. I always wondered how I would react in this kind of situation: your house is on fire - how do you respond? Fast or slow? Fight or flight? Apparently, I'm the type to swing my child around and yell, "OHMYGOD OHMYGOD FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE" and then run in a small circle achieving absolutely nothing. Luckily, Rich came running in and told me to open the door for him. He picked up the centerpiece and ran out the door then calmly walked down to the water faucet while a 2-foot high ball of fire blazed in his hand. 

We all had a good laugh at how terrible all the women handled the shock of the fire. My mom also bought me a Phillips air fryer (no fire required!) that cooks like a microwave and a toaster in one. I'm still figuring it out but I will do a post about it soon!

I was overall so happy this Christmas. Lots of amazing, beautiful and useful gifts. 

We are very lucky to have our little family and our big family around us. We work hard to keep our family close, they are so important to us and it's worth it to be with people you know you love and will continue to have for years.

PS - does anybody see a baby bump up there? My little sister is having a boy!!!!!!! (more to come on that later.. when she's ready).