Maya is 1 month old

We are so excited to celebrate Christmas with you here! You are the best gift we could have received and we love you SO much! It's hard to believe you're already 1 month old!

Christmas Eve and Day

Every year for Christmas Eve we go to the Keetch's for a cousin gift exchange. My sister in law Tiff puts together a nativity for the kids to act out and my mother in law makes something yummy to eat. We've even started letting the kids open their pj's before we go so everyone can wear something comfy!

This year we had clam chowder, turkey sandwiches, salad, and goodies! Karen had a bingo game set up for the kids and the men were more than happy playing ping pong through it all!

For the gift exchange, Afton had Zoe and Zealand had her. She was so excited to open her new princess phone and Barbie. Somehow we've made it to 4 years old without getting a Barbie. She was pretty excited though. :)

                                                          This year Afton was an angel!!

 

                                          Back at home, sitting by the tree, opening her new Barbie!

Cookies, mints, and chocolate milk for Santa!

                                                                      Christmas morning!

       Afton had been asking and asking and asking for a Unicorn Dream Light! Thank goodness Santa had               one under the tree! This is one happy girl!

Christmas Card

More tree

I love getting the tree put together every year. I love my eclectic ornaments and the twinkling lights and the smell. One year I actually bought all new matching ornaments. They were light blue and white and so, so pretty but they just weren't me. I ended up taking them all back and my tree looks the same every year, which is okay!

Each ornament can be played with and Afton likes them all. I still need to finish my homemade ornament for this year but haven't gotten around to it! I will post as soon as it's done!

Too big?

So I've seen this idea all over Pinterest and decided to give it a try using a picture of Afton and Santa. It was really easy and fun but definitely huge!

To start I went to Staples and ordered the largest print they could make (3 by 4 feet) and then I went to Home Depot and bought a large piece of insulation foam board. They cut it to size right there but when I got home I realized you could see right through the paper. The paper is very thin...

I decided to paint the edges red and this picture isn't actually adhered in any way aside from a little piece of tape at the top. I decided that rather than store it I would roll it back up, stick it in an old wrapping paper tube and either reuse or discard the foam board. I don't have a lot of storage so the thought of storing it all year is kind of daunting. And really the whole thing cost around $11 so you could almost make a new one each year. Hmmm

Regardless of all that, I love how it looks and I have enjoyed having it in my kitchen for the holidays!!

Marshmallow art

Afton and I did some marshmallow art one day while it was snowing outside and she had so much fun!!

Advents

I love the idea of a Christmas Advent but haven't done one yet (aside from the cotton ball Santa) because Afton has been too little to notice. This year she's so excited about Christmas and presents and Santa and baby Jesus so I figured I'd better get going on something.

I was excited for the book advent because I love books. I also have a plethora of wonderful Christmas stories that talk about baby Jesus and Santa. I wrapped each book in plain brown paper and tied some with ribbon and left some plain. Every day Afton gets to open a new one and see which book is inside!!

And on another note, I think being a parent is hard. And scary. I'm responsible to teach Afton about Jesus and the gospel and giving but I also want to let the fun seep in through Santa and reindeer and presents. Yesterday Afton said, Mom I'm so glad Santa comes around to help celebrate Jesus' birthday and I love that that's how she sees it. It is about Jesus and even Santa is coming around for that reason.

(I did have another one half way put together but couldn't quite get it done) Hopefully next year!!

Santa

We got in to see Santa a little early this year. And I mean early...it was before Thanksgiving!
But it books up fast so I'll take what I can get.

There is an option to have a parent wear the Santa suit but Brett and I love the Santa there and love watching him with Afton. She gets so shy and nervous which is not like her at all!

She loved climbing in the sack!

So so cute!!!

Last year we had Santa's face in 2 of the shots and I didn't realize until I was home looking through these that there wasn't even 1 with his face but oh well. Afton had fun and I do love the pictures!

And I just had to add these...it's fun to see how much she's grown.

Decorating

Last year Afton loved decorating the tree. This year she just wanted the ornaments.

She also has her own little tree with Rainbow lights and mini ornaments (just her style) and must have felt content with that because she didn't put a single thing on the big tree. In fact, I had a hard time keeping anything on it. She was so excited to play with everything. I'm glad I have ornaments she can play with!

She put her own lights on her tree and I thought it would go in her room but she plugged it into the lights on the big tree so they all plug in together. Funny kid...

Getting the tree

Afton loves getting the Christmas tree and as much as I complain about not having a fake tree I really do like getting a tree as well. We love the atmosphere and bundling up and examining trees to find just the right one but sometimes I think it would be so easy to pull one out, lights and everything, and just set it up. No waiting, no mess, no drying out, no pine needles all over the house, no more money, etc.

But...we've got a compost pile to think about. (I'll add a picture soon) And this year it's a 5 foot tall, charcoal in the middle, steaming on a cold day kind of pile. Brett wouldn't dream of getting a fake tree and missing out on all the nutrients a real tree will provide. He's even talked about getting other people's trees when they're done this year and adding them to the pile! Oh boy...

Afton and Brett were having so much fun playing hide and seek. I loved watching Afton's face as she searched for Brett or waited for Brett to find her!!