Christmas

I was going to write a deeply moving profound post for Christmas, but never got around to it, what with four Christmases in two days! (That, and the lack of profoundness in my Mommy brain!)

Christmas started on Christmas Eve morning. This was the only time we had to have our own family Christmas. It started with Ryan making us our new traditional Christmas waffles, then the retelling of the Christmas story so that we would remember that it is really all about Jesus' birthday! After that came presents. This was the first year that Rylie could open her own gifts and really understand what was going on. It was also the first year that we took her shopping and let her pick out presents for us. (I got a bright pink stuffed pig!) We had a lot of fun and a special family time (and I got an Ipod! Rylie got a princess "Ipod" as well but decided she liked mine better so she pulled my headphones out and plugged hers in. I never thought my Ipod would get jacked by my two year old!)

That evening we had my family Christmas at my parents. My "adopted" Grandma Pat was also able to come, which made it even more special. We have a few traditions that we do as a family and then we opened more presents.

After that we went to Ryan's Mom's house and spent the night. Christmas morning the kids woke us up bright and early so they could rush downstairs and open their presents. By the end of it, Rylie was in a little bit of a stupor, tired and overwhelmed by all of the present chaos. Then we had our traditional breakfast of homemade strawberry crepes with whip cream! They are so good, I don't know why we only have them once a year!

That afternoon we went to Ryan's Dad's house (he has his own ranch). Rylie was so excited to see the horses and then even more excited when she got to sit on one! Imagine her excitement after that when her gift from Grandpa Jim was a rocking horse that made horse noises and moved his head and tail (she's named it "Fafa")! We only see Ryan's Dad once a year, so Rylie didn't remember him from last year. I was thankful that she wasn't too shy and he could see how adorable she is (I know I'm biased!)

Today we were supposed to go down to Oregon to visit my Aunt, my sister, and then my Grandparents, but after the severe contractions I had last night, we decided it was better to stay home and rest today. My wonderful husband has been doing housecleaning (our house is full of presents!) and taking care of Rylie all day, so I can rest. Thanks hon!

I can't forget to mention that I'm writing this post on my very own laptop! Ryan asked our friend Aaron to put one together for me (he's a computer whiz) for Christmas! I love it! Now I can use it whenever I want, I don't have to wait for him to be done.

Click here to see all of our Christmas pictures!