Tonight is Christmas Eve and all of the presents are wrapped - finished around 8 pm. My husband even assembled one of Ava's big gifts already. It's an art table that comes with a roll of paper. I can't wait for Ava to see it! She's finally at the age where she's starting to understand things like Santa and Christmas and presents. A couple weeks ago we took her to see Santa, and I was under no illusions that she would sit with him. She was definitely scared and we ended up just waving at him. The only year we've ever had photos with Santa was when she was 6 months old. It's an adorable photo, but I'm sure it's going to be another year or two before she works up the courage to sit on his lap. So, we got our Christmas pictures taken by our family photographer, if I can call her that. We've used her ever since Ava was 4 days old and I just love her style of photography. She uses a lot of natural light and takes pictures outside as much as she can. Here are our Christmas photos...
It's been a while since we've had good ones taken of the two of us, so those are pretty special to me. Back to Christmas Eve - before Ava went to bed, we made cookies and she got to decorate and eat one. She was all about the sprinkles and frosting. She barely left enough to decorate with, then she ate the cookie. She was quite the happy little camper! Jimi also put a Duraflame log into the fireplace. If you haven't heard of Duraflame, go check it out. They are the best! She took a bath with no fussing, which isn't usually the case. I read two Christmas books and then Jimi read The Polar Express. It's a tradition now and Ava was so good for it. She sat very still, really listened, and looked closely at all the pictures. It was precious. We tucked her into bed and she's been sleeping really well.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate Christmas Day at home first. My plan is to make cinnamon rolls and we'll open all of our presents to each other. I don't know yet what Jimi got me and I'm super excited. I love surprises (even though it's hard for him to keep them). Jimi already knows about his big present; tickets to a KU basketball game. But he doesn't know when it will be or who it's against. Some of Ava's smaller presents are a care bears coloring book, foam stickers, a new board book, a washable stamp pad set with stamps, a teddy bear, and a pretend vacuum. She's still scared of real vacuums so this is my idea of acclimating her to them. It's wooden and can pick up the wooden toys that come with it. In the afternoon, after Ava's nap, we'll go over to my Mom's house to celebrate with her, my brother and his girlfriend, my Grandma Evelyn and Aunt Sis, and possibly my Grandparents as well.
Our next Christmases are on Sat. Dec. 26 (Jimi's Mom's side) and Sun. Jan. 3 (my Mom's side). We've also already had Christmas with Jimi's Dad's side, which was early; on Dec. 19. Ava got a doll bed, a new cabbage patch doll that we call Laney, a doctor kit, a keyboard with a stand and stool, and a STEM toy called Spinnyos. I only know of a couple things my Mom and Grandparents got Ava, which are clothes and pjs. Ava loves pjs. She calls them "pajammies."
This year I get a full two weeks off for Christmas break, now that I'm working for a different district (that's a different post for a different day). I'm so happy to have this time to spend relaxing with Ava and Jimi and catching up with my family. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
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