Christmas

This year, Christmas came and went faster than expected. To tell you the truth, I'm missing the Holiday already. We've been prepping for Christmas since 27 Dec last year so we've been able to have a little of the Christmas cheer all year long, but I still miss having more time with Cameron off work and with family & friends. WHY have we been prepping for a year?? Well it's because we have aprox 40 people we give presents to, and that's just family. So it makes sense [financially and time] that we start a few days after one Christmas and get started on the next :)
This past year was the first one that we really stuck to it. We make the majority of the presents and that can take some time when there are 40ish to make. But we enjoyed the holidays so much more this year without the stress of rush rush rush! Time spent with my family and Cameron's family was nice. Lots of new memories made and friendships strengthened. Even though we don't always get along or understand each other, I'm grateful for time with family. Gifts end up being secondary.
Xander is now old enough to understand more about Christmas and has been very excited about the whole thing. He loves singing songs about Santa and presents [what kid wouldn't?]. It's been more exciting for me this year to watch him and I've tried to see the Holidays through his eyes. Looking at all the lights on houses, songs, presents, hanging out with friends and family, treats and the anticipation of Santa has been on his mind since Thanksgiving. Watching him get excited about every little thing made me stop and appreciate things just a bit more.
Below are some of our shenanigans and photo warning.. There's a TON of photos... and I apologize ahead of time, they were taken form my phone so not all of them are clear :/

Xander's smile.. it changes every day, but what stays constant is that he always has a reason behind his smile, and it changes!

Out caroling with friends

He insisted on holding his own book and singing :)

Nothing says Grinchmas like larger than life light up decorations!
Me and my favorite guys!


My parent's nativity scene, of course, made from wood.
Ye ol' yule log... hahahahaa.. aka the ghetto fireplace :) I swear it was warmer sitting in front of the roaring fire!
Auntie Siri explains what everything in the nativity is to Xander
My Auntie Mel!

Mom and me

Auntie Siri and Xander

Me and bebe :)
Me and my seeester, Siri

me, Dakota, Siri and Xander

Dakota and me

Kaylee and me

Amanda and me

Siri ... bahhhhhhhhhhhhh [insert evil laugh here]
Siri
The race cars my daddy made for the boys. He is very talented and I love them! Oh, and the boys love to play with them too! :)
Mommy's guys.. haha, silly faces! and that blurr in the upper right corner.. is Dakota mid pounce.. a second after this pic was taken she landed. upmf!
Sorcia , modeling her new hat.
Dakota and Xander

Xander and Sorcia
Dakota, me and well.... Camreon. There's a jokle we have that Dokota always looks squinty in pics so we kept telling her to open her eyes more.. looks like Cameron jumped into the photo.. hahaha

Cameron and me

Sebastian.. kept covering his eyes [don't blame him! the flash is crazy on my phone!]
Aunt Mel, opening the snowflake scarf we gave her
Gelato!!!!!!!!
A bracelet from glen and Veronika. HAHAHA.. So the story behind that is... My parents wrote "from mom and dad" on everyone's packages [including Cameron, Bret and Eric's] but MINE! They wrote "from Glen and Veronika". Nice. So thank you, Glen and Veronika. The bracelet is very pretty :)

Eric
My dad, Cameron, and the boys- enjoying the recently opened gifts.
My dad and Sebastian
Sebastian and Sorcia

My seester Collette and me

Me and Jennifer and Collette
All four seeesters... Collette, Jennifer, Me, Siriana
Amanda and Sorcia

Weird camel puppet
Eric and Collette

Dakota

Another weird sheep puppet.. and Bret
By the end of the night [you'd swear that someone spiked the Cider..] puppets danced around the room and sat upon people's heads.. haaaa we had so much fun!
{Christmas Day} I stole Xander's hat :)
Kelly and me
Cameron and Sebastian, looking at all the lights on our walk
Kirstin and me

Xander was so excited to open presents! I loved watching him with each one.
MOM! I have so many presents!! Can I open them now?
My Christmas dress. I bought this BCBG dress about 6 months ago with the goal of wearing it on Christmas. When I first bought it, I couldn't even zip up the back and I thought I was going to bust the hook because it was barely able to be hooked. I loved it so much that I thought I'd use this as motivation to loose the baby weight and get back into shape. I've been trying on the dress almost every week since then. MOst weeks I still cry that it didn't fit, but week by week I lost pounds and inches. Two weeks ago I tried it on and it fit, but was really really tight. I figured I'd still wear it. To my delight, when I tried it on on Christmas eve... it fit!!!! And so I wore it to Church :)


Every year Cameron's family has a tradition of eating at the Chicken Pie Shop. This year all of the siblings were in town so it was a special day. I hadn't taken pictures of the decor in previous years so I decided I would. They have a ton of chickens on shelves and on the walls. Some of them look like they've been there since the joint opened. Super cool.
xander's "smile"

Jackie, opening her gift :)

Jackie and me

Me and Cameron

The boys all got Charger beanies that I crocheted for them. They loved them! yea!
Aidan and his hat :)

And after all is said and done.. we're all about as tired as Sebastian was each night on the ride home.