Our 2nd Christmas As A Family of 3

YES...I'm going "there"....where no blogger probably ever does.  It's now January 13th and I'm finally blogging about our Christmas and it's even going to be quite a lengthy one.  Call me a Rebel.

Where do I even start.....Christmas Eve?  Sure.

For Christmas Eve this year (and every year from now on) we attended our church Christmas Eve service.  This is something we've never done as a couple.  Now that we have Boston, it's our goal to make this a tradition each year so that he grows up always knowing that that's what we do....we go to church on Christmas Eve.  My mom went with us (since my dad had to work, pooey) and it was such a beautiful service.  Here's a look at a few pictures we took before and during (yup, I took a picture during the service.  it was too pretty not to).  :-)

I need to learn to spit my gum out before our photo ops.

 Daddy walking B to his nursery class.

 Abby (short for abuela in Spanish) with B and I.

Last Christmas Eve (Boston's first Christmas) and this Christmas Eve we made hand-print molds.  It's something that we'll be doing every year until he tells me to take-a-hike-with-that-idea.  But until then, we will do what momma wants.  :)  Let's face it, he's gonna have to get use to all of my traditions.  But I have confidence that he'll learn to love them.  ;)

Last year (B was only 2 months old) we did his hand and foot print:

And, this year we only had room for his hand print:

Love seeing that little hand growing.  :)

BUT, before my mom got to our house to go to church, Jer and I exchanged our gifts to each other.  It's something that we do alone and when I say alone I mean alone.  We waited to exchange them while B was taking his morning nap.  That's our time together throughout the whole crazi-ness of the holidays.  So, I'm going to preface by saying, I'm a HORRIBLE gift giver to Jer.  He never wants anything so it leaves me deciding on my own.  And I can never think of anything really good for him.  Something that isn't just a total waste of money.  So this year I just thought I'd get him things he needed, work shirts, socks, tennis shoes, workout shorts, jeans, etc.  He is always the one giving me the good gifts.  He goes extravagant.  Something that doesn't work with me when I'm trying to become more frugal.  :) I got 2 things from him, an extra large bottle of my favorite perfume and this:

LV Neverfull GM

Crazy I know!!!  I was THRILLED!  It was massive.  I put it over my shoulders and it swallowed me.  I knew it would be way to big for me to carry and I didn't want to look too pretentious carrying it around.  Then a few days later I couldn't stop thinking about how much stuff I could have gotten for the price of that one handbag.  So after going back and forth and debating about it,  I decided to tell him that I thought we should return it for a smaller cheaper handbag/diaper bag for me.  At first he thought I was out of my mind, then I did some convincing.  So I headed to the mall with my cousins and bought my new little baby.  This one:

Michael Kors Jet Set in Vanilla

I'm really loving it.  It's a tad bit smaller and A LOT cheaper than the LV and fits everything I need it to fit.    

Maybe when we are completely debt free I will buy all the LV's my heart desires.  But until then, I'll settle with my MK's.  Like how I'm so cool that I abbreviate now?!  Ha.    

Anyway after church, we came home and ate some homemade organic lasagna (Jer prepared this before we left to church), garlic bread and salad.  It was delish.  Then we sat in the living room with my mom listening to Christmas music, no lights but the Christmas tree lights on, drank coffee and talked.  It was a great evening to a great day.  Thanks for sharing this wonderful evening with us, Mom!

Christmas morning we woke up and my mom and I prepared our breakfast casserole, sausage croissant pinwheels and fruit while the boys (Jer, my brother and my dad played Wii).  While the casserole was baking we opened our gifts.  Of course, Boston was the first to open his gifts and he made out like a bandit.  He was blessed with lots of gifts from my parents.  I wasn't able to take many pictures but I managed to get just a few.

 Falling off his present.  Silly boy.

 Have I ever mentioned that he's a rough and tumble little boy that isn't afraid of nothing?  Well, he is!  He's our little dare devil.

 Little stinker.

 Trying to unwrap his gift.

 His favorite thing to do right now is pull off his socks.  We can't keep socks on him for nothing.

 Oh and have I also mentioned that he's a little "ham" like his daddy?  These two are gonna be so funny together.  Jer is a funny guy and I think we are gonna have another funny fella.  This is the face he makes with his mouth nowadays.  It cracks us up every time.  

 But even being a dare devil and a ham, he's also a lover.  Has such a sweet and gentle heart.  He's giving his new horsey a kiss...

....and a hug.  Along with his horsey, he got some new Vans and sleepwear from Abby and G-Paw and tons of stocking stuff!

 

 After opening gifts and eating, we had our family photo taken before we left to my grandmother's house.

 We always head over to my grandmother's house for more eating and family gathering.  It's always a great time with most of my cousins there.  Here's me and my cousin, Marisa.  Such a sweet girl!

 Me with my mom and most of my girl cousins...oh and the B-ster.

 Last but not least, we head over to Grammy and Grandaddy's house (Jer's stepmom and dad) for Christmas with them.  Here's Boston's first pair of boots!!!  I think I was more happy than him.  I've been wanting some boots for him for a long time and when we hinted to Grandaddy that we wanted some, well....whalla they got him some!!!  

Grammy and B

 Cousin Lexi with B

 B's new car from Grammy and Grandaddy.

Whew....there it is.  Our Christmas 2011.  We had a such a great time celebrating with all of our family that loves us and B so much!  We can't wait for next year.  :)

xoxo
~Jeni