Life.Is.Good.: Christmas & The End of 2011

~Our sweetest gift!~

We wrapped up a memorable 2011 with a fun family Christmas and a low-key, at-home New Year's Eve. We had such a great December getting ready for the holidays (per the many previous blog posts this month), and it was definitely a memorable one for Kinsley! I had wondered up until Christmas Day if she would "get it"...Santa, the presents, but most importantly, Baby Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. Well, I would say that we got really close on the Santa / presents thing...and she received a Nativity Scene in the days leading up to Christmas, and she loved playing with it and showing us Baby Jesus (and she loved the donkey and sheep), but that part should become a little clearer next year, when she's a little older.

If you ask her what Santa says, she will tell you "Ho, ho, ho!" And she finally named her Elf on the Shelf ("Shaaa" we think...not sure, but that's what she would say when we would go find him in the mornings after he had "moved"...and now she still loves watching the Elf on the Shelf movie, even post-Christmas, and she'll point up to the fireplace mantle and say "No Shaaa." So yes, we think his name is Shaaa.). She definitely got a little confused when she woke up from her nap one day and all of the decorations were gone..."No tree" (our Christmas tree went to the recycling pile at Home Depot); "No ka-canes" (the light-up candy canes that lined our sidewalk); "No Choo-choo" (referring to the neighbors light-up Christmas train in their front yard); "No Santa" referring to the large inflatable Santa and characters in the yard down the street - but little does she know mommy snuck out to Home Depot post-Christmas and found a 4ft inflatable Santa at 50% off for her next year!!!). It was a little difficult to explain that they all went to the North Pole for a little while but they'd be back. I already can't wait for next year. Until then, here are some fun photos of part of our Christmas (Uncle Danny, with the great camera, still needs to send us the ones that he took). Oh, and speaking of cameras, we are getting a new one! The nice DLSR camera, purchased with some of our unused points from Delta or Marriott or one of those companies, but it's been on back-order since the middle of December. So soon enough, no more "point & shoot" camera - no more "missing the moment" in so many photos because it won't "click" fast enough for me to catch a very quick-moving toddler. I can't wait!

But for now, we were just pleased that she was one happy little girl on Christmas morning! We spent a great Christmas Eve at my parents house, celebrating with my mom's side of the family during the day (Christmas #1) and attending candle-light service that evening before hunkering down to watch the traditional National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. We all stayed over at my parent's house that night (us, Angela, and Danny) and woke up to Santa's visit the next morning (Christmas #2) - and let me add, Kinsley slept until 8:15am! She NEVER sleeps that late - in fact, she was the LAST one to get up! Crazy! So we celebrated Christmas morning (complete with the traditional beignets), had time for Kinsley to catch a nap, then it was off to celebrate Christmas #3 at grandam's with my dad's side of the family, and the finally off to Christmas #4 with the Stanford's over at Kelly' and David's house. It was a busy two days, but a blessed two days, and I wish I would have taken more photos on my camera, but here's what I got...a little recap of the end of our December, 2011:

Mommy and Kinsley's First Gingerbread House!

(I mean, we're not winning any awards or anything, but it certainly was fun!)

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~Christmas Eve~

Kinsley and her great-Nanny.

Hanging out with Papa.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Ang!

The ladies (minus our littlest lady)!

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Christmas Morning - and Santa had arrived!

Just loved her reaction as she opened up her Dora guitar! Priceless!

Ready to cook in her new kitchen!

Kinsley loved helping Beebe open her gift from Papa.

Testing out her new Red Rider tricycle!

Our close-up, no-make-up, mom-seriously-I-don't-have-time-to-stop-for-photos-cause-I-have-presents-to-open, Christmas morning family photo. :)

Her favorite: her "rah-rah" as she refers to it! Her first motorized ATV, just like her daddy's...she loved it!

She actually doesn't mind the Dora helmet! Although it's a little snug - and it's for 3 yr olds.

Ready to roll! Maybe this is easier outside...

Yep! It is! And way more fun!

Such a big girl!

Angela and Danny gave us some BIG news earlier this month that we can finally celebrate publically! Kinsley is gonna get another COUSIN (her first one on my side of the family) - that's right, Uncle D and Aunt Ang are EXPECTING and due this July!