Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas to everyone. We had such a great Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Every year for Christmas eve, we go to my step-brother's house for a pasta and seafood affair. We all got dressed up and headed over. The food was amazing as always and it was nice to spend time with family.

 Here is Ava in her Christmas eve dress.

 Here is our family picture in front of their tree. We have the exact same shot from last year and what a difference a year makes.

We woke up early Christmas morning, well, I guess I should say Ava woke up around 5:20am. I just decided to get her up because we had to be at my sister's house around 8:30 for brunch.  Santa brought Ava a new kitchen.  Santa's helper put it together during her nap on Christmas eve. He was smart to do it ahead of time. Ava came into the family room and saw it right away. She loved it!!!

 Here she is opening the plastic food that is going to be everywhere in our house until we can get a good storage bin to put it in!!

Ava didn't really get the part where she had to pull all the wrapping paper off, so I helped, but she was all ohhhh and ahhh's when she saw everything. Of course, we had to pull everything out of the boxes for her to see.

**Note to self next year: pull everything out of boxes and cut all strings, put back in box and then wrap...

Next year, we will have an almost one year old and an almost 3 year old. It will require some serious organizing.  Ava got tons of toys and I know was way overwhelmed by the time we were done. She got lots of toys and clothes. I wish I didn't take everything out of the box and held on to some for later. I may still do that.

 After we opened gifts, we all went over to my sister, Jacy's, house for brunch. Here is Ava in her Christmas outfit. Super cute.

We gave her a couple of gifts to open while everyone prepared breakfast. Her Auntie Jackie and Uncle Nick got her the Thomas the Train beginner train track set and she LOVED it. She was so excited and yelling and screaming. Her Aunties said that they haven't seen her this excited before. 

 After we ate our brunch, it was time to open gifts. Ava had an easier time opening presents in tissue paper.

 Here is a dress from auntie Jacy.

 And one of her favorite gifts from Nana and Papa Ron... It is a Sesame Street Riding toy. She loved it and rode it around saying bruuuummmmm the rest of the morning. That allowed us to open our gifts..

After opening presents at my sister's house, we headed home to get Ava down for her nap. She was super tired and way overstimulated from everything and needed a good nap in her crib. She slept for 2 hours and was refreshed when she got up. Then we headed back to Brian and Melissa's for a Prime Rib Christmas dinner. It was so good. In fact, these past 2 days, I don't think I have felt hungry as the food has been plentiful and I have no room, so just a couple of bites fills me up. Do you think I stop after a couple of bites, nope, so I have been a bit uncomfortable. Today, I detox!! We had a nice afternoon, in which Ava played in their playroom and ran around outside. Below is a picture of Ava with her cousins. When we put Ava down on the step, she moved away from her cousin Alex, but in order to get the picture, we left her there.  These 2 were the best, even though Ava has red eye. I just can't get the red eye reduction to work on my camera and when her eyes are so small it won't correct it either. (Patty, I will upload to snapfish for you today or tomorrow).

After this we went home for Ava to take a bath and play with her toys that she had yet to play with. As soon as we got home, she was looking for her kitchen. She just loves it!! She played for a while then off to bed we went. I think next year, we are going to have to invite the family over for brunch at our house so that we can enjoy the day a bit more. All the driving around was a bit crazy, but still fun to be with family!

What a great Christmas we had. It is always over too fast. Next year will be twice as fun!