Baby's First Christmas - In Four Parts

This year, we decided to do Christmas a little differently. Instead of racing around town, trying to fit everybody in on Christmas Day, exhausting ourselves, and feeling more stressed than festive, the Hubs and I chose to keep Christmas Eve and Day to ourselves. A little selfish? Not at all! As a child of divorce, I've been sharing Christmas my whole life, and I always swore that when I had my own family, I was just gonna stay home. And it was better than I could have hoped! (Not counting the too-warm weather...would it kill Mother Nature to send some of that chilly weather this way?!)

Kid's Chair | Alligator 

You can see that Baby Tuna's enthusiasm on Christmas Eve was just out of control.

Part One
The bambino had us up bright and early (ok, maybe not bright - the sun wasn't even up yet!), so we snapped a few shots of her checking out some of her presents. Her reaction was priceless!

We wanted to wait until the sun had come up a bit before opening presents, so we enjoyed some snowman pancakes (don't worry, Z didn't get any of the chocolate chips or faux bacon) and OJ. This was Z's first taste of daddy's pancakes, and I wish I had gotten a shot of her wolfing them down. She loved them!

Z spent the next half hour tearing into her presents, but she surprised me...it wasn't until that evening that she became truly interested in the wrapping paper itself. She just really like her presents and spent the day playing with all of them. It was so wonderful!

Little Red Car

Crazy Animal Magnets

Some good friends of ours gave Z the most amazing little piano. My little musician crawled right up to it and started pounding playing like she knew exactly what she was doing! I'm so excited that this little munchkin is so musical!

Piano

The three of us spent the entire day in our Christmas pjs, eating cookies, and enjoying a stress-free, totally relaxing, amazingly wonderful baby's first Christmas. It. was. perfect. And I really can't wait for next year when we get to do it all over again!

Part Two
The next day, we headed north to see our families. Z met her cousins for the very first time at the Hubs' parents' house. We were a little worried that she may be overwhelmed by all of the new faces, but she loved all three of her cousins, and they were all so good with her! The babe was especially taken by her cousin Aria, which she demonstrated by climbing her. I think Aria was a little nervous at first, but was so gracious and wonderful and let Baby Tuna sit in her lap and pass a bow back and forth. It was such a great moment!

Part Three
The next morning, we had breakfast with my dad and step-mom, which meant chowing down at our favorite hometown breakfast joint, The Blueberry Muffin, and more presents for Z. She had done such a great job the night before ripping open the paper and playing with the bows, but on this morning, she was in more of a climbing mood!

Part Four
The final Christmas installment happened at my mom's house, where we had been staying. Z opened a few more presents and we spent the rest of our time relaxing, feeling lazy, and watching the babe play with her new loot. I'd say Santa treated her well!

Ball Ramp | Zany Zoo Activity Box

While we were there, we also got to see a few old friends, the kind that don't live too far away, yet we don't see nearly enough. Now we are back at home, enjoying as much family time as we can before the Hubs heads back to work in the New Year. We hope all of you had a restful and festive holiday, and that you have an amazing New Year!