Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Christmas Celebration Round 1 of 3: Christmas at our own house

 Auntie Lois made us this cute advent calendar. Chelsea was very excited to put an item up each day. This was an early Christmas gift this year and so Rick and I were excited to see what was coming up too, as we had never seen it before. Thanks, Lois! It will definitely be coming out for many Christmases to come!

 Last year we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Kelly family and Christmas Day with the Heit family. It is SO wonderful having all that family in town. We are quite spoiled, but love every minute of it. But that left our own individual family gift session until after Christmas and it was a couple days before we got around to opening our gifts. It was fun, but for me, it didn't have the same feeling once Christmas Day had passed. It almost felt like one more thing on our to-do list. So. This year we opened up the celebrations with our own small family gifts on the 23rd. Round 1 of 3.

This is the zhu zhu pet that we got for Brie. It was a big hit with both girls. I'm contemplating getting one for Chelsea for herself, but I haven't felt quite justified in buying another toy so soon after Christmas. Maybe for her birthday. But don't tell her, I want it to be a surprise. 

 I'm very happy with our decision to open presents early. It was laid back and enjoyable. The girls had time to open up and play with some fun new things. As the kids get older, the more fun Christmas time is. I loved shopping for the kids the most. I volunteered to do the shopping for all the Heit kiddos too, even though generally I buy for the Kellys and Rick buys for the Heits. (not exclusively, but generally)

 Brie got her own backpack now. I figured we won't be hauling a diaper bag around forever (no we haven't started potty training, but I think Brie might actually be getting kind of close to learning a little bit more) and Chelsea has her own little Princess backpack that she likes to take on sleepovers to Grandma's. So now Brie has a cute little Dora the Explorer backpack...that she wears around her neck. We'll have to work on the details.

 Yeah I'm a boring shopper for Daddy. He doesn't seem impressed with....a shirt....Just kidding! He didn't mind getting a shirt. He got some other cooler things too. =)

Here are the girls after the festivities of the evening were over. Baths were done, and they were getting ready for snack. They are modeling their cute new pajamas. The shirts are none too big, but the pants are quite long for both of them. Brie's are Dora, in case you were curious. 
There's more excitement to come!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rick should put that picture of him with the shirt up as his facebook profile picture.

Are the girls watching the microwave for their snack or is it just on the counter?

Rick, Erin, and girls said...

Actually the cupboard above the counter is where we keep most of their snacky-type foods. I think they opted for fruit cocktail that night. Or maybe animal crackers....I dunno. Something. =)