Christmas #1

We had a wonderful Christmas this year- it's amazing what a difference a year can make with Austin... he was really into it! Things got started early when my parents arrived the Sunday before- they were here to help us get the house ready for Shane to start working from home full time. The main goal was to get the office cleared out for him & to just make more space in the house! So my mom helped me clear out closets & get the guest room ready to convert into a playroom. I'll post more about that later!

A few random pics from the days leading up to Christmas~

Getting his daily piece of chocolate from the advent calendar


Anxiously awaiting Papa & Gigi's arrival (can you tell he's excited?)


Moving the car- Austin thought he was big stuff in the front seat without a car seat


Shaving with Papa every morning


Eating lunch


Baking


Being silly & reading books with Papa






Christmas Eve
We started the day by letting Austin open one gift- we opted for one of his larger gifts- a kitchen from Papa & Gigi. We thought this might make things less overwhelming on Christmas morning. As you can tell from the pics, he LOVES it. He usually makes me a cup of coffee every morning.... with salt & pepper in it.




We met some of my Dad's family for our traditional Christmas Eve meal (at lunch this year) at El Fenix... it was yummy! And after a quick nap, we were ready to make some sugar cookies for Santa! Austin really enjoyed decorating the cookies- mainly with M&Ms (so he could snack on them as well.) I thought they ended up really cute~










At bedtime we set out milk/ sugar cookies for Santa & carrots/celery for the reindeer. Austin decided he needed to sample Santa's cookies.



The elves getting started


3 hours later- train table complete!


Christmas Morning
It looks like Santa came!


The tree & presents


Looking at what Santa brought




Playing with his new train table




Eating Santa's leftover cookies


Playing with his new Woody doll


Some of the new toys


Riding his new stick horse


Max loves wrapping paper


Helping Papa open a present


Gigi's creative wrapping


Presents!




Jack playing with his new toy


Unwrapping his easel & sticker book from Papa & Gran




Checking out his stocking


Woody himself- aren't these cute pjs?