Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Festivities

Whew... It's always hard to believe that the Christmas season has once again come and gone. A whole month of decorating the house, gazing at twinkling lights, baking yummy treats, spending treasured time with family and friends, and most importantly, reflecting on the birth of our Savior ... it always goes so, so fast! I will admit I was a little stressed about how the weekend would go for Lainey but she, in true Lainey fashion, was such a trooper - flexible and SO sweet!

Since we were going to be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Minnesota with my family, we were lucky enough to get a chance to spend some time both with the Johnson's and as a family of 3 before the big weekend. Lainey got to show her Grandma and Grandpa Johnson all of her new tricks!

I wanted us to have a yummy "Christmas dinner" for Jed and myself and then open a few presents and drink egg nog (sick) while we watch 'It's A Wonderful Life." We didn't get around to watching the movie, but it was still a wonderful evening! Jed chose the main dish and I made boneless beef ribs, which was exciting for me since they cook in the crock pot, and if you know anything about me, you know I love to use a crock pot!
Don't worry, I didn't light the candles! :)After dinner, it was time for some Christmas tunes... and then presents!It was such a fun evening for our family of 3!

Our trip to Minnesota was the first time we attempted to travel with both the baby and the pup and I will be the first to admit that I was not looking forward to it... not only the traveling aspect but also the fact that my sister's dog Lacey would also be at my parent's and I just envisioned total and complete chaos. I'm happy to report that traveling both there and back went great and the dogs LOVED playing with each other all weekend. I've said this before and I'll say it again... I like dogs... I LIKE Simon but I don't LOVE him living in my house. I'm working on getting my sister to pick him up on her way back to North Carolina so Simon and Lacey can live happily ever after...
Jed loved taking both of the dogs for walks almost as much as they loved it.
Claire loved being near Lainey and Lainey loved watching Claire show us all of her big girl tricks!
Claire has THE best morning bed head!
Auntie Em loves her Lainey!

My extended family always has the same series of events when it comes to Christmas: soups and appetizers on Christmas Eve and then omelettes on Christmas morning (MY FAVORITE!). My immediate family used to do some gifts on Christmas Eve and others Christmas Day but with the little girls, we ended up just doing stockings Christmas morning, then the rest Christmas afternoon after naps!

Emily and I went a little overboard and got the girls matching Christmas dresses and jammies. They looked sooooo sweet, it was totally worth it. My mom got Emily and I matching pajamas since we made our girls match too, which was pretty funny.
Most of the pictures of Claire and Lainey looked like this... Lainey was mesmerized by her adorable SHOES that Auntie Em got her.Our family of 3 before Christmas Eve church!
Lainey was such a trooper and let many of my family members enjoy holding her!
Matching jammies!
Checking out a puppet from her stocking!Isn't my Grandma the CUTEST?!?
Claire did a great job handing out all of the presents on Christmas afternoon! You can see the puppies were occupied with new toys of their own. Simon's lasted all of 10 minutes.
Lainey's loot!
She was more concerned about the wrapping and bows than her new toys!Claire checking out a new toy!


Happy girl! She's such a sweetie!


We stuffed Lainey into Claire's high chair while we ate dinner and she LOVED sitting up with everyone and playing with a few of her new toys!This was my view on the drive home.

It was a wonderful, wonderful long weekend. We are TRULY blessed in SO many ways!

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