This year we spent Christmas Eve at Grandma Renshaw's house and Christmas day at Grandpa Armstrong's house. We had a wonderful, wonderful time. I will being saying that word a lot in this post because Christmas was wonderful.
Before Bria and I headed to Grandma Renshaw's house on Christmas Eve (Brian was working) we stopped by my mom's to drop off presents.
Grandma Brooks and Bria:
And they had a few presents for the little cutie so we opened those up. Isn't her headband adorable? My friend Erin gave it to her and I just LOVE it!
Her cute vest and baby legs are courtesy of Aunt Heather :)
She loved opening the presents and was particularly fond of the wrapping, what baby isn't?
Then we were on the road. We went to the 5 pm service at church and I was really nervous for how Bria was going to do because she decided to skip her afternoon nap. Fortunately she totally surprised me and did amazing, we even had some people come up and tell us how well she did.
As we were walking into church I was telling Brian's sisters that it would be a Christmas miracle if Brian made it to church. Obviously UPS works Christmas Eve and it's usually a late night for them, plus he has a long commute.
Towards the end of church Bria was getting a little squirmy so I took her in the back to let her "walk" and stretch her legs. So there we are just walking back and forth when all the sudden I see brown out of the corner of my eye. I look up and there is my Christmas Miracle in the flesh. He made it!! I couldn't stop smiling and hugging him, I was so excited. He said he was going to wait in the car since he was still in his brown uniform but really wanted to come in. I told him I couldn't believe he wasn't going to come in, nobody would care that he wasn't in a tie. In fact, I think they should've given him a standing ovation for making sure everyone's christmas presents made it, after all he is like Santa Claus ;)
So the rest of church I couldn't stop smiling, I was on cloud 9 and just so grateful that he made it to church. Brian's mom and family was also very thrilled to have him there. It was just wonderful.
We went back to Grandma's house and had Bria open her presents since she was fading fast, the poor girl was beyond exhausted. She got some adorable things from her aunts and grandma, she was so spoiled!
Family photo after church:
A noisy toy that Bria loved:
I put her to bed and then we ate a delicious dinner, talked, and opened presents. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve and it was nice that Brian and I didn't have to rush to go anywhere, we were able to relax and have fun.
My Christmas miracle:
Brian opening his presents from me (Blue Ray DVD player, boxers, and a movie):
Brian spoiled me this year. We normally don't do gifts but decided to go all out this year. And wow did he go all out. I got a beautiful top (pictured below), Joe jeans (awesome!!!), and a pair of Uggs! Like I said, he spoiled me good.
Christmas morning came and I couldn't wait for Bria to open some more of her presents. Her Santa Claus present was a walker/rider (we picked yours Heather) and Bria really liked it.
Saying hello:
She opened the rest of her presents and her favorite part was the tissue paper. I knew it would be so I put extra in her presents ;)
A picture with Bria and all her presents:
Her rocking horse from Grandma Renshaw:
She played and played and played and finally decided to take a nap so I put her down. She talked and talked for half an hour then finally went to sleep. I attempted to take a nap but 20 minutes later she was up and ready to go. Guess she knew we were going to Grandpa Armstrong's (my dad) for the day.
So excited to open presents!!!
The family sitting around while the girls passed out presents:
She got spoiled again at Grandpa and Grandma Armstrong's house and had fun watching her cousins. When she started getting cranky I went into the bedroom, nursed her, and she fell right asleep. She slept on my chest for about 45 minutes or so and it was really sweet. Then she was rested and ready to play again.
My Dad and Kailey:
Kayla and Lance:
She entertained everyone during dinner and was being such a ham. She had us all laughing, clapping, and putting our hands in the air (so big!). She was making silly faces and you could tell she was trying to think of things to do to make us laugh and clap for her. It was hilarious.
We played games and then Bria was ready to go to bed. She was beyond tired and so were we.
We did her whole bedtime routine but when I laid her in her crib she started screaming. I think she had forgotten how to put herself to sleep since she had fallen asleep nursing the last couple times. So we spent 45 minutes doing some sleep training and she finally fell asleep. We haven't heard her scream and cry that much in a long time, it was really sad. But she finally gave in to wonderful sleep and so did we.
We had such a wonderful Christmas with our family. It was hard not seeing all our parents and spending time with them, but it did work out well and next year we get to spend it with the other parents/grandparents.
Bria was beyond spoiled and we are so appreciative of all the incredibly generous gifts, she is truly loved. I got emotional more than once in the last 2 days because it was just such a wonderful time. I've dreamed of being a mom and having birthday and Christmas traditions and it was so amazing to see it all happening. We have the best family in the world and are just so blessed.
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