We spent a month celebrating Christmas with Abby. All the holidays have been fun with Abby, but Christmas was especially fun.
Our ward (church congregation) traditionally has a Christmas breakfast at the beginning of the month and Santa comes for a visit. Abby did great meeting Santa.
It took me several days to set up all our decorations but Abby really enjoyed them.
She's just so cute - look how happy she is about Christmas!
Since we were going to be in Las Vegas for Christmas and didn't want to have to haul Santa gifts with us we asked him to come to our house early. So he came the Sunday before during Abby's morning nap. Cheyenne (her birth mom), Rick (Cheyenne's boyfriend), Cathy (Cheyenne's mom), Janet (Ryan's mom) and Heather (Ryan's sister) came over to see her play and celebrate. We had a pancake breakfast then watched her see her gifts. She had a lot of fun trying out all the new stuff.
Cathy, Cheyenne, and Rick all had gifts for her. Cathy and Mike (Cheyenne's dad) gave her a Y-bike - they sit on the bike and push with their feet but before they are big enough for that it doubles as a walker. Very neat. Cheyenne gave her this super cute vanity that talks and lights up and a fun ball popping dinosaur. Rick gave her this super cute tutu outfit and a baby doll that plays peek-a-boo. Janet also gave her a fun rattle. She loved everything and has spent hours each day playing with everything ever since. She is just amazed by new things. Cathy also made both Cheyenne and me these super cute ornaments - a Santa made out of Abby's handprint and a snowman made out of her foot print. I love them! And Cheyenne gave me a very pretty silver necklace. It was a great time!
Abby did great on her first flight. She slept through the first half and then looked around in amazement the second half. She actually would have slept through the whole thing i think but my arms got tired and so I shifted her position and woke her up. But she was fun to watch on the plane. She cried for less than 10 seconds as we were landing - I think her ears hurt. Several people commented on how good she was. I have to agree.
(As an aside, a note of warning. We flew to Las Vegas on Spirit Airlines last year for Thanksgiving and this year for Christmas. On our return flight last year and on our flight out this year our suitcase was damaged by the airline. Not so damaged that it is unusable, but enough so that it is noticeable and annoying. We later found that our video camera was also broken on light - the screen is busted so you can't tell what you are doing. We got compensation last year for our suitcase (after a big hassle), we may get compensation this year for the suitcase (after an even bigger hassle and hours of our time waisted), but they don't take responsibility for any contents of your suitcase so they say they won't compensate us for our ruined camera. I am hoping that in the end they will. But, just think twice about flying Spirit. We won't ever again. The terrible flight times and the damage to your property without concern is not worth the cheaper flights - at least that is my current opinion :) ).
Anyway, having flown over night we spent the next day trying to recuperate. And then that evening we went with my parents to a Mannheim Steamrollers concert. My dad's office staff gave my parents tickets as a Christmas gift, and my parents gave us tickets. It was a lot of fun. My nephew, Matthew, babysat Abby while we were out.
Friday evening we took Abby to see the cactus garden at Ethel M's. The M stands for Mars, as in Mars chocolates. They have a great garden that is decorated every year with lights. This year they had even more lights than usual - so it was a lot of fun. Ryan and I also enjoyed our candy samples, yum!
Saturday we took our niece Michealanne and went hiking at Valley of Fire. It is one of our favorite places in the Las Vegas area so we wanted Abby to experience it.
Sunday we took it easy. We went to church, I helped my mom with her Christmas projects, we played with Abby. Sadly, Abby experienced her first real fall. She was in the high chair and buckled in. I thought she was fine in there while I was preparing her food. But she leaned too far forward and the straps didn't hold her in at all and she landed right on her forehead resulting in a huge goose-egg and lots of tears. It was very sad :(.
Monday was Christmas Eve, and my oldest sister Missy's birthday. They invited my parents and us over for dinner. Not only is she a great cook but so is her husband Christopher. He made lobster and steak and a bunch of sides. It was very tasty! After we cleaned up we played games and just hung out. When we got home we had Abby open a Christmas Eve present. I want our family tradition to be to open a Christmas book on Christmas Eve (and when she is older a movie too) and read it.
This year she got "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". But she was more interested in the ribbon and wrapping paper. :)
For some reason Abby did terrible with her sleep that night and woke up at 4:00 refusing to go back to sleep. Around 5:00 Ryan and I finally gave in and got her up. We played for a little bit, fed her a bottle, and put her back to bed. But that through off the whole day. Normally when we are in Las Vegas for Christmas we go around with my parents to visit my sisters in the morning. But they ended up going without us since we were back in bed when they left. Also, since Abby didn't get a good nights sleep she had to do thing in stages because she kept getting too tired and needing to go back to sleep. So we had I think 3 rounds of present opening. But that was okay. Mixed in there we also had breakfast with my parents and Matthew.
Opening links from Ryan and me. Notice her enthusiasm for the tissue paper, especially eating it.
Opening books from my mom. Notice her paper love - had to give it a taste.
Opening bath turtles from Ryan. Notice how they immediately went into her mouth.
And the trend continued as she opened more books from Grandma and a cd of children's music from Grandpa.
And on it went - opening "You Are Special" from me and Dream Lights Pillow Pet from my parents.
The first Christmas that Ryan and I were married we gave each other a foosball table and a chest/coffee table (well, half of one, his parents gave us the other half.) Since then we've just given each other stockings. We don't have a lot of things we want and prefer to spend our money on trips (this goes for birthdays and Valentines too. Our gifts are always small/inexpensive things.) Our stockings are sometimes overflowing, but generally there is nothing in the that costs more than $10. This year Ryan completely surprised me. He gave me season tickets to a nearby community theater. I was surprised, shocked, and completely thrilled. I have the greatest husband ever!
Later in the day my sister Jenny and her family arrived from Cedar City and my sister Molly and her family came over. We all had dinner together and then just hung out. Emily and her family arrived from Salt Lake late in the evening.
We tried to get pictures of Abby in front of the tree wearing a Santa hat but she was having none of it. As soon as the hat touched her head she was pulling it off. But regardless, she's cute.
We took some family pics in front of the tree.
The day after Christmas we just hung out at my parents house with them, Emily and Jenny and their families (also staying at my parents - it made for a full house :) ), and Missy and Molly and their families came over. (This was the first time we've had an Earl Christmas when everyone wasn't there. Mindy and her family have to stay in Houston (well, her kids can leave but she and Brian can't) and Maggi and David are now in North Carolina and couldn't make it. We sure missed all of them :). Hopefully we will all be together again soon!)
Abby jumped on the trampoline for the first time. She liked it and her hair was a lot of fun.
Abby was the favorite person and got to know her cousins better. (The two bottom pictures were actually taken at my sisters house on Christmas Eve,)
I don't know when the tradition started but at least for as long as I can remember my family acts out the nativity every year. Jesus is always the youngest child present (or a doll if the youngest is not young enough.) This year it was Abby - she did great.
The next morning we went with my sister and brother-in-law and some of our nephews to the park. (It's actually my elementary school, but whatever.) Later that day Ryan and I went with a lot of my family to see "Les Miserables", and it was great. After, my friend Steve came over. It was his first time to meet Abby and it was great to see him.
Abby went down a slide for the first time and had a lot of fun playing with cousins.
Friday, the next day, we planned to go on a hike but instead went to the park and played disc golf with my family. That was fun - but cold :). In the evening We went with my parents, Missy, Chris, Zander (my nephew), Molly, Bruce, Mark (Emily wasn't feeling well), Jenny, and Cam and did sealings for some family members. I love going to the temple, I love going with my family, and I love doing the work for our ancestors. I also enjoyed listening over and over to the sealing prayer - the same one that was said when Abby was sealed to us. I'm so grateful for eternal families!
Fun playing disc golf.
Outside the temple after we were done.
Saturday we took Abby to the Springs Preserve. They have a desert garden you can walk around as well as trails through areas of what Las Vegas used to be like before buildings and roads took over everything. I really like the gardens and think if I were ever to put in desert landscaping I would go there to get inspiration. After we were done walking we had fun playing in their gift shop. On our way home from there were stopped at Sam's Town. It is a hotel with a big garden atrium. They have Las Vegas style lightening and rainstorm shows throughout the year but at Christmas they decorate it with lights and have a lazer light show to Christmas carols and with snow (a water dance is also part of it.) It was really quite impressive and we enjoyed it all.
See Abby enjoying it.
Sunday we went to church at Missy and Molly's ward because Sophie was singing in sacrament meeting. She sang "Mary Did You Know". I have never really heard her sing before but she is very talented. I was impressed. Emily and Jenny left with their families on Sunday so it was back to just us and my parents at their house that night. Zander came over to watch a movie with my dad and hang out for a while, so that was fun.
Monday was our last day. In the morning we went over to Molly's for breakfast and to celebrate Lissa's birthday - she is now 7. Later, we went with my parents and walked around at the Wetlands. We've been there several times but this time we ended up somewhere we'd never been. I always like being there.
That evening we went over to Missy's. Sophie had invited a bunch of friends over for a New Year's Eve party. Molly's family also came. They had fondue and a bunch of other delicious food. (Ryan and I both gained weight on this trip and we never even ate out once. And we exercised almost every day. But it was worth it - I think.) Michealanne wrote a murder mystery game that we all played. She wrote it for her ward at school as a get to know you activity. You can play with anywhere from about 20-200 people. It is very versatile allowing people to be as involved as they want. Everyone had a good time. I have such talented nieces and nephews (and sisters, brothers-in-law, parents, husband, etc.).
We had to leave before midnight though to get to our flight. We were actually in the airport at New Years. Luckily we had a view of the strip so we didn't miss out on the fireworks.
Abby was pretty tired - can you tell?
I kept Abby in her carrier on the flight so I wouldn't have to deal with tired arms. It was a good plan and she slept most of the way. But we were all waisted by the time we got back to Texas and Ryan's parents. An hour or two of sleep was not enough. So we all went to bed when we got there and slept a few more hours - until Abby woke up. We had breakfast with his parents and Heather (who had stayed the night) and then went back to bed for a few more hours. Then we opened presents with them. Had I not been so exhausted I would have gotten my camera and taken pictures of the festivities. But I didn't have any extra energy for that. We did actually take some pictures with Ryan's dad's camera, since it was available, but we don't have them. Abby got a book that has family photos in it - it's called "Who Loves Baby", another book that sings and reads to her, some socks, a hat, and family zoo passes (a year membership) from Ryan's parents. We were super excited about the zoo passes. I had just been telling Ryan that is what we should be asking for for Christmas. She also got socks from Sherri and rice cakes from Heather.
Abby took another nap while We packed up and got dressed. Then our friends Derek and Sherri came over with their son. They live in Omaha so we only get to see them a couple times a year so it is a real treat.
Abby and Cameron - making friends
