I don't know how, but I managed to take so few pictures over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I'm looking back today at the ones I took and so many are blurry (side note - I think my camera needs some work), or the little ones weren't looking at the camera, or any number of reasons. Mostly, we were just so busy enjoying ourselves that we didn't focus on getting good pictures. Part of me regrets not doing a better job of capturing the Christmas moments. But my mom always says - don't spend your life behind the lens....spend it living in the photo, sitting next to your child. And so we did this Christmas.
In reality - she could settle down on Christmas Eve and the late bedtime led to her sleeping until 8. (Yah early present to mommy and dadddy - we got to sleep in!). Then once she began opening her gifts she wanted to play with them for at least 10-15 minutes before we could move on to the next. The result was that we didn't finish opening all our gifts until 11:15 Christmas morning....and it was just the 3 of us!!!
Katie truly started to "get it" this year. She knew who Mr. Claus was, that he lives at the North Pole, that he comes on Christmas Eve to the house of all the good girls and boys. We, of course, fully encouraged all the traditions of Christmas. Actually, after all the hype, I thought Katie would be so excited to open all her toys on Christmas morning that she would wake up extremely early....and gift opening would be finished by 8.
In reality - she could settle down on Christmas Eve and the late bedtime led to her sleeping until 8. (Yah early present to mommy and dadddy - we got to sleep in!). Then once she began opening her gifts she wanted to play with them for at least 10-15 minutes before we could move on to the next. The result was that we didn't finish opening all our gifts until 11:15 Christmas morning....and it was just the 3 of us!!!Normally Katie isn't the best at independant play. She's highly social and can make even a trip to the potty a group activity (no, I'm not kidding!). However on Christmas day, she couldn't have cared less if Matt and I were around. She was so involved in her new toys she would just disappear into the living room to play with one thing or another, talking to herself or the toy as she played. It made me think that maybe we need to rotate her toys/get new ones more often. Of course I shared this with my mother and she said "I've been telling you that for more than a month - Katie gets bored with the same old toys." Ah yes, thanks mom! :-) The problem is...my house is already overrun with toys. I'm not even sure where I'm going to put the ones from Christmas - ha!
A little video of Katie riding her new four-wheeler which she calls her tractor.
Matt was actually on call for Christmas Day. We will call it an answered prayer that he didn't get paged....he was able to spend the entire day with Katie and I. It was the first year that Matt and I spent Christmas without one set of parents or the other. For the first time, it was just the 3 of us....and it was such a special day.
Hoping you all had a wondeful Christmas...and all the best in the New Year!
Later tonight we are going to Lewis Ginter's Gardenfestival of lights. Then tomorrow morning (Christmas Eve) the Barnes Family is headed over to our house for brunch. Finally tomorrow night we will head to church for Christmas Eve service. So, so busy....having so much fun!! Finishing with some Christmas songs buy our little munchkin...
This past weekend we all got together at Popa and Abu's house for a little Barnes Family fun. Two main reasons for the get together (not that we needed a reason). First, Uncle Jake is back from college. Second, we needed to get the annual Barnes Family Christmas Photo! :-)
