Christmas Eve Mara and I went over to our friends' house for dinner. They out did their selves with the spread. We had steak, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, baked apples, spinach cheese rolls and homemade french bread. To say I was stuffed was an understatement. We played a few games and then headed home. The best part of the night was just spending it with them. I am so thankful for their friendship and the invite!
Christmas morning we slept in a bit (know this won't always be the case) and immediately headed into the living room to skype with Josh. We let Mara open most of her gifts and stocking before we opened our gifts to each other.
I love celebrating the holidays with a child. It just makes everything so much more special. I loved watching Mara carefully unwrap each of her gifts, a huge difference from last year when she just stared at us. This year she seemed to understand that these things were for her and how to pull off the paper and bows. She was also very particular to make sure she gave me each scrap after she pulled it off.
Mara made out like a bandit getting lots of books, puzzles, a pillow, backpack and some bath toys. Josh did awesome this year getting me a snorkel for our upcoming vacation, a smart system for our house and a precious ornament. The best gift though was being able to connect on the day and do our best to spend Christmas "together".
After opening gifts I quickly threw all the discarded paper in the recycling and jumped in the shower. My friend Alyssa was coming over to bake cookies and just hang out. Once Mara went down for her nap we got to work. We made about three dozen peanut butter blossoms and two dozen chocolate dipped pretzels. It was a ton of fun and I think as Mara gets older this may have to be a Christmas tradition we keep!
Alyssa had to get going so we headed back to the computer to skype with Josh's brother and family in Wisconsin. Mara loved seeing her cousins on the computer and it was great to catch up with them.
From there it was off to a friends house to visit with them as it had been months since we last saw them. Mara had so much fun chasing after their cats and dogs. She really kept our friend Adam moving as she ran up and down their stairs after the kitty.
To round off the night we headed back home for a quick skype with Josh's parents and a phone call to mine. The day went super fast but I am so glad we were able to share it with as many people as we did. Christmas was definitely different this year but thanks to everyone it still really felt normal. hahaha
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