To start off Christmas Eve, Anton played a mean game of racquetball with my brother and I took Lilly with my parents and most of her cousins to go see Tangled. It was so fun!! Each year, I cook a fancy meal and we stay in and watch movies. This year, we decided to mix it up a bit. Neither of us were feeling like cooking a big meal, and cleaning it up, so we decided to go out! If you know us, you know we love Mexican food...so thats what we decided on. Not your traditional Christmas Eve meal, but it was so fun. After dinner, we decided last minute to go downtown and take the girls to see the lights at Temple Square. We chose a good night...it wasn't that cold, and really not that busy. The girls loved it! After the lights we headed home to get working on "Santa's gifts". wink wink. Setting up all the toys and laying the presents under the tree, brought back that feeling of being a kid again. I left the room for a minute, and came back in and when I saw all the presents laying there...I could barely wait for morning. All I wanted, was to see how Lilly was going to react to her special gift from Santa. Christmas Eve this year was so much fun. I loved that it was just our little family. It was a perfect night.
Christmas morning was truly magical. We both went in to wake up Lilly, and she SHOT out of bed. I had to grab her hand to slow her down so Anton could get it on film. Of course the moment she walked into the living room, she said "A Kitchen!". We had to convince her that her kitchen wasn't going anywhere, and that Santa had brought her more gifts. Claire was just Claire...mellow and happy to be with us! She loved the paper and the bows....more so than her gifts. Typical baby! Lilly's new toys have been a life saver for me! She just plays and plays and plays...she pushes her babies up and down the hallway with her stroller, she cooks for them, she is in pure heaven. It is really fun - and quite nice!
Anton and I don't really do much for each other throughout the year, so we take the opportunity of Christmas to really spoil one another. And, I tell you what...every single year, I think "oh man, he is going to love what I got him", and then he always manages to up one me. He is so sweet with how much thought he put into my gifts. I just adore him.
This time of year can be hectic with going from here to there, making sure you have gifts for everyone, schedules are off etc., but really the best part of the holidays is the time spent with our families. We don't get to see Antons family very often because they live in St. George, so around the holidays they always come up and it is great to see them. Lilly adores her Grandma (and pompa of course!), and loves every moment she gets to spend with her. It is also so fun for Anton to get to have his family around for a few days. There are always tears shed between Lilly and grandma when it comes down to saying goodbye, but we are grateful they come up to see us for a couple of days during this crazy time of year. And, we are grateful that they live in St. George and not farther away! I am so mad at myself for not getting pictures with them this year. There is always next year!
I am so in love with my little family, and this Christmas could not have been any better. It really, truly, was a magical Christmas...one I will never forget!
