Our Christmas

Our Christmas was wonderful!!! We spend Christmas Eve hanging out at home during the day with Grant's parents, who were staying with us. Then we went to the family service at church at 5:30. Alex went up for the children's story. I don't think he would have been brave enough, but Miss Carole (his Sunday school teacher) took his hand, so off he went! He started on the bottom step and worked his way up to the top one. Pretty sure he was trying to get closer to all of the instruments. Good thing the story ended when it did, or church could've have a concert!

We drove around to look at Christmas lights for a little while and then went to a family party at the Scott Steels. Alex, of course, ate too many M&Ms and was a crazy man! He ran around the house yelling "Scuse me! Coming through!" and wrestling with the cousins. We made it home by around 9:30 to put our little ones to bed. Santa worked his magic, Grant went back to church to run sound for the 11:30pm service, and the house was calm.

Christmas morning was a blast. Grant got up with Noah around 6:30. Around 6:45 Alex started to stir. I cuddled with him and said "Buster! It's Christmas!" He lifted up his head, looked at me and said "One minute!" and plopped his head back down on the pillow! He is definitely my child :) We called my parents to let them know we were up, and they started on their way over. Alex's sweet face was so precious when he saw all of the presents. His blocks weren't wrapped, so he started there. We spent about 2 hours opening presents with our family of four and the four grandparents. It was a sweet time.

Then, the preparations had to begin. I had decided to host my first formal, holiday meal. Grant really wanted me to make Nanny's yeast rolls. I really wanted to make my grandma's yeast rolls. So we challenged each other to a roll bake-off. Turns out that the recipes really aren't too different. And, MAN, do they take a long time to make! We started with the dough at 9, had to let it rise for 2 hours, then shaped the rolls, then let it rise again for 2 hours, then bake them. Those rolls combined with the rest of the meal made it a busy morning :) It was a fun tradition to start, and I think we may continue our roll bake-off for years to come.

Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jim joined us for dinner. They're so much fun. Alex loved playing with Aunt Bonnie. He tried out his new doctor set on her....I think her reflexes are pretty good :)

Noah had a big day. He stood all on his own for about 15 seconds in the morning. Then in the afternoon he started playing peek-a-boo (holding his own hands up in front of his eyes and belly laughing when he would drop them and we would say "peek-a-boo!"). And THEN he waved for the first time. Lots of milestones and very fun that they happened on Christmas.

All in all, our Christmas was fantastic. We had lots of quality family time, lots of laughs, and lots of joy. My first holiday meal was a success and I may even host again in the future ;)