Christmas 2011 was one that we were only dreaming of last year.
Since we got matched right before Christmas last year, I spent the entire holiday season dreaming about how the next Christmas would be. It was everything we imagined and so much more! Annie was a trouper. She was up waaaaay past her bedtime on Christmas Eve (after having her schedule out of whack for nearly two weeks to accommodate all of our holiday activities) and didn't have a single meltdown then or on Christmas Day. Bless her heart...I can still look at her sweet face and see how tired she is.
Anyway, we had our first Christmas the weekend before Christmas at my Granny's house. That was where Annie got to open her very first Christmas present.
Note the costumes. We can't have a single holiday at my Granny's house without my mom, my aunt and my cousin coming up with costumes for everyone. Luckily, Rob and I opted out of the costumes...whew!
A week later, we started our Christmas Eve festivities with a visit to my Aunt Cheryl's house. We had a blast catching up with my cousins and seeing all of our kiddos play together.
By the way, I have a new respect for photographers who take family pictures...or more specifically pictures of a group of kids. Good heavens. It is impossible to get everyone to look at you and smile at the same time!
From there, we headed down to Rob's mom's house for the annual Madole Christmas Eve party. I have to say, if you live in or around Shawnee and you're related to or are friends of the Madoles (and tons of people are!), this is the place to be! It was the first Christmas Eve bash without Rob's dad, Bill, so there was definitely something missing, but everyone seemed to be in good spirits knowing that he was celebrating Jesus' birthday with HIM in heaven this year.
After tons of presents, Christmas carols and a visit from Santa, Annie went to sleep around 9:30 (again, waaaay late for her!) and was finally home in her own bed around 11:00.
We were so excited to bring Rob's mom, Jackie home with us on Christmas Eve and have her here for Christmas morning. Annie had a blast opening presents!
My mom came over on Christmas morning to see Annie's haul.
After a nice afternoon nap for all of us, we got ready and headed to my dad and Georgia's house for more presents and (the BEST!) Christmas dinner.
Our first Christmas with Annie was more than I could've hoped for. My heart is still overflowing!
Sorry for the LONG post!
~M
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