Christmas!

David and I are the luckiest parents on the planet! Malarie went to bed early last night (7:30 pm instead of the usual 8 pm), and she slept in this morning until 6:30 am! PLUS, after I fed her she slept again until after 8 am. We all got up (David earlier than me, as usual, and he went to organize the gifts), went downstairs and started to open gifts. OK, so we opened Malarie's gifts... David and I didn't have gifts to open since we are planning on going on a Grenadian vacation next year (that goes out to you CeCe). She got some toys, books and clothes. She absolutely loved sticking the tags, wrapping paper and gifts in her mouth:

David and I took turns helping Malarie unwrap her gifts (from the looks of the photos, it turns out I'm better at getting her to smile, ha ha)

 

She loved sitting with and exploring her presents all around her.

 

 

 

Juneau and Ash weren't left out of the mix, they each got a raw hide bone. And just in case you were wondering, yes, we did actually think that they'd unwrap them themselves...that didn't pan out.






After we relaxed a bit, we decided to get ready to go to my mom's house. Let me explain something here; my idea of Christmas is staying in my pj's all day and just keeping it cozy. David, on the other hand, prefers to actually get dressed and ready for the day. Unfortunately for me, I always concede and reluctantly change out of my sweats and into real clothes. So, although David and I looked like normal people, we thought it'd be fun to dress Malarie up as an elf. Target had these super cute red dress elf outfits for girls, but that was not authentic...everyone knows that there is a very strict non-gender specific dress code at the North Pole, thus we opted to go with the green elf uniform (you'd be surprised to know that the elves actually have to purchase their own uniforms, they aren't provided).

At my mom's we were all sufficiently spoiled rotten by my mom and Max (her husband)! We gave Brady (my younger brother) and Lace (his girlfriend) a box of Twinkies for Christmas (come on, they were only $2 after Hostess went under), and Mal was loving on that box as you can see:

We ended the night at David's parent's house with a nice ham dinner and fun family fun, and, yes, more gifts.We still have my step-mom's to go to tomorrow...it's been a busy Christmas, but oh so good - not because it has been full of things but because it has been full of moments, love, laughter, and family!

Bear with me, I know this is a long one... David and I had a discussion about whether or not to have Malarie believe in Santa. I wasn't so sure about it. I was leaning more toward telling her that Saint Nicholas was a good man and wanted to do nice things for people, and that we all want to remember the way he was so we can try to remember that it's better to give than receive. I just don't want her to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas: Christ, and the service we can give to those around us as He would do if He were here. David convinced me that Santa isn't the problem, we will just need to keep the true meaning of Christmas in our home so that she knows what's really important. I love this time of year when charity abounds and we (as Christians, in general) tend to focus a little less on ourselves and a little more on those around us and especially the ones we love!

Merry Christmas Everyone, I hope that your holiday season was and is full of love, joy and peace!