Christmas

Christmas seems to take on a whole new level when you have kids.  Even though Mara is too young to remember her first Christmas, it was really important to me to make sure it was special.  I was also really excited to celebrate the holiday in our home in North Carolina as a family of three. (not that I don't love being with family over the holiday but there's something nice about just doing our own thing.)

Christmas Eve with Mommy

And with Daddy

We had plans of opening gifts on Christmas Eve but Mara passed out early so we decided it could wait till the actual day.  Instead we finished up our Jesse tree by reading the Christmas story and hanging up the ornaments we hadn't.

Christmas morning we slept in and just hung out in bed for a bit. It was nice to catch up on some sleep but eventually the breakfast casserole I put in the crock pot the night before started calling our names.

Reading her new book

Josh and I decided to open one from each other while Mara went down for her morning nap.  After a quick shower and clothing change, all three of us were finally ready to open presents.   

Mara got some finger puppets

She wasn't super interested in her new Sophie teether

We took turns opening gifts with her.  Of course she didn't really know what was going on but she did show some interest in the process.  She would study the gifts and listen to us describe what was going on.  She loved chewing on her new book (even more than the teether she got) and stared at her new shoes when Josh put them on her feet.  

She does love these new rattles/maracas

Let me help Daddy

Buddy even got in on the action as he loved sitting in the used wrapping paper and chasing after the discarded ribbon.  

Buddy was easy to shop for.  Used ribbon.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the couch and catching up a bit around the house.  Josh used his amazing computer skills to give some aspects of my blog a facelift while I ran around the kitchen putting things away.  

Overall our first Christmas as a family of three was great.  It was really low key and allowed us to really relax and enjoy being together.  It makes me really excited for the next few years and getting to see Mara's reaction change.