Take THAT Economy!

We had SUCH a great Christmas this year!!!

Christmas started on Christmas Eve because Jason had to work his normal 6am-4pm shift (though he got off a bit early), so we had to do some clever maneuvering with Santa's arrival. Jason opened his gifts from Nana, Papa, Auntie Lizz, Uncle Jamie, and Baby Max. Faith kept us in stitches yelling "That is sooooo cool!!!!" When she opened the blanket Nana made for Bun Bun.



Jason dragged my tired butt out of bed at 4:30am while Faith continued to sleep peacefully (luky girl!). We shared the requisite coffeecake, coffee and opened our stockings and a few teaser gifts to each other. Then Jason hauled off to "work" and I went back to bed.

When Faith woke up around 6:30, we snuggled in bed for a little while before she got her piece of coffeecake and we packed up to head to Auntie Lizz and Uncle Jamie's house. We had a delicious breakfast, opened MORE presents, and had a wonderful visit with Max, Lizz, Jamie, Nana, and Papa.

(A little gift Faith gave to me was her keeping her diaper dry from the time she woke up until after we finished breakfast (about FOUR hours!!). Then she told me she had to go. She also woke up from her nap dry the past few days. I think we've turned a corner! )

Only a 2 year old would like raw broccoli dipped in peanut butter.

We headed home around 1pm, just in time for us to nap together. Luckily, Santa is a flexible guy and was able to show up while Faith and I napped, right before Daddy got home! Santa rang the "Santa Bell" and left the building with a "Ho Ho Ho!". I gently tried to rouse the sleeping angel in my arms with soft stroke on her cheek, kisses on her nose, and playing with her hair. She finally popped her eyes open with anxiousness when I said "I heard Santa! Do you want to see what he brought you?" I got a resounding "YES!!!"

Before I launch into my list, I want to say I typically hate the braggy posts, about what we got, naming brands, costs, etc. But this Christmas Giving was not over the top, which I appreciate, therefore want to "woo hoo" for us all. :) I am officially calling this Our Crafty Christmas because we got a few homemade gifts that were a highlight.



Faith

Ride on Tractor
Clothes Galore!
Books Galore!
Train Set
Play Food (including felt food lovingly made by Nana)
Play Kitchen (From Santa)
Apron (lovingly made by Auntie Lizz!)
Paint-by-water books

Mommy

Engraved Locket
Utensils for the Trailer
Herb Scissors
Massage GC
Tickets to Wicked!!! (Date TBD)
Apron to Match Faith (Also made by Auntie Lizz!)
Business Tools (business cards and car magnets) to support my Body Shop Biz.
An AWESOMELY soft throw banket
A Nikon CoolPix (It's PURPLE! I love it)
A Year-long pass to the Oakland Zoo

Daddy

2 XBox360 Games
A Shirt that says "God Made some cops PERFECT. The rest he put in cars"
An Irish Blessing Plaque for the front of the house
A picture of Knute Rockney's Fighting Irish from 1930
A book called "Blue in Black and White", a photojournal of San Francisco cops BY a San Francisco Cop.
A nailgun and compressor
3 Seasons of The Office
2 Movies


Seriously... an AWESOME Christmas. I am blessed.

The Goings On

Unfortunately, we didn't get very good pictures of us ACTUALLY trimming our tree this year, but that's not the main purpose of this post anyway! Faith's Gram and Gramps sent the family a TRAIN for under the tree!!! Faith was positively mesmerized by it (as you can tell) and I am so happy to have a great piece of Christmas decor to keep in our family! Thanks Gram and Gramps!

(and yes, Santa is facing the wrong way... He's keeping an eye on the water level for us.)