Christmas at Home

We decided to have Christmas morning at home with just us the Thursday after we got back. Santa was nice enough to drop off Madeline's gifts. I think we were more excited about this than she was. Here are some pictures of her seeing what Santa brought her.

All smiles!

Wheeeee!

Very interesting!

Christmas...double the fun, double the pictures,....

double the time it takes Mommy to get it all put together. This is by far the longest most picture heavy post I ever done. Without further ado, here is all about Miss Madeline's first Christmas.


Madeline's 1st Christmas began on Christmas Eve night. She celebrated with her Grandma and Grandpa Brown, Uncle Dave, Aunt Tonnie and cousins Mason and Zoe. We ate dinner together and then got to the fun stuff...opening presents. She was quick at learning how to get into her presents. However, one gold ribbon that was on the 2nd gift she opened stayed with her throughout the entire evening ;) She got an activity table and tea set from her grandparents. She loves the table. She has had practice on her cousins' before and knew just what to do. Here are some pics from the evening.

Let's get this show on the road

Presents!!

Let me in this thing

Whoa, check this out!

Must have golden ribbon

First tea set

Even excited for Daddy's presents
(still has golden ribbon)

I'm really getting the hang of this present thing.
(All while holding onto this golden ribbon)

Grandma with her grandbabies

The best we could do.

I love it!

We survived!

On Christmas Day, we had lunch with Grandpa, Grandma, and Great Granny Bishop. Then on the way home we stopped by to wish Great Grandmother and Aunt Ruth a Merry Christmas too. Here are some more pics.

Did Santa come?

Why of course he did!

YaY!

Showing Granny some of her loot

I love this Christmas stuff

Happy 1st Christmas!

Hello Christmas dinner!

Helping Granny open her gifts!
(Found the golden ribbon again)

Four Generations

We made it home on Saturday night in time to feed the lady and put her to bed. Mommy and Daddy stayed up way too late unpacking, washing, wrapping, organizing, and repacking for the trip to Abilene.

We headed out west after church on Sunday and arrived just in time for Great Grandpa and Grandma Betts' 60th Wedding Anniversary party.

Monday was the big Hanson Christmas gift exchange. She really became an old pro at unwrapping packages by the end of the night.

Here are some pictures of all the festivities.

Center of attention

Matching outfits courtesy of Mamaw

Stocking time

Something doesn't belong

Now we've got it right

You've gotta love Snoopy when your Grandpa is Charlie Brown

Waiting for presents w/ Uncle Delton

Matching jammies

More matching jammies

Bird watching w/ Uncle Delton & Cousin Heidi

Playing w/ Aunt Dea

Saying goodbye to Aunt Beckie & Uncle Brent

and Uncle Bob
(Can you tell it's naptime?)

Love you Mamaw

And goodbye Great Grandma

We are very proud of our little girl; she traveled so well and keeps her sunny disposition throughout most situations. All of her cousins were either sick, had been sick or got sick while she was around them. We are praying that she can stay healthy despite all of her exposure. She is also getting ready to cut some top teeth. She has one and a little bit of teeth on the bottom, and her top gums are super puffy. Christmas Day she really wasn't her super smiley self. We think she did great and hope she has many more wonderful holiday times with her family.

Pictures with Santa

Santa and Miss Madeline

We got up early the Saturday before Christmas to beat the crowds to the mall and get Madeline's picture taken with Santa. Yes, her parents are total procrastinators who should have done it sooner but it all worked out for the best in the end. I was determined we would get to the mall before 10 and we did. I waited to get her dressed in her Christmas attire until we got there. I thought this would avoid any spit up problems. After getting her dressed, I saw some grandparents with their grandkids all dressed up and knew they must be heading for the same place as us. So I quickly rushed to keep up with them and as luck would have it they led us right to Santa. I'm sure we looked nutty speeding through Macy's but I had no idea where Santa might be. Thank goodness the line was short...only 3 or 4 people ahead of us. The was a children's singing group performing close by which was super loud and it kind of weirded her out. Her daddy and I were getting so excited as we waited in line. It's so silly but we hadn't felt that excited about Santa in years and it was so much fun. I was a little nervous to sit her in Santa's lap but I had confidence that my girl would do fine and she did! Her eyes got really big and she would turn and look up at him and then back at us. She did start to whimper as I was going to pick her up, but not one tear was shed so I think it was a success!! We can't wait to see what next year has in store for us :)

Where are we?
(waiting in line)

After picture snack

True Sippy Cup Success

What?

This old thing?

No biggie

Well, I waited a few days then tried again with the Magic SippyCup. Once again, I made sure she knew I was putting juice in there. I really tried pumping her up about it. I kept smiling and saying yummy, yummy juice, Madeline you're such a big girl drinking your yummy, yummy juice. She smiled the whole time beaming from ear to ear and successfully drank all her juice that day.

Then I got brave. After 2 days of successfully drinking out of the MAGIC sippy cup, I decided to try the other sippy cups I had purchased on sale when she was 6 months. She drank that juice like a champ, no problem, and she did it again the next day too. Hopefully she will continue this. I think it's much better for her because it definitely makes her drink more slowly. She used to chug that juice so fast from the bottle and then urp up a bunch once she sat up straight and tall. She is drinking much more slowly now. She drinks about half after she eats her lunch and the rest when she wakes up or with her supper.

I know that the next most challenging thing is going to be getting her to drink milk from the cup. Time is just speeding by and my days of nursing my little baby are coming to an end :(

Side Story
She is very into anything paper, and for some reason we keep getting Newsweek magazine.  Well an issue was laying on the coffee table and she got to it before I could.  She immediately started to crunch pages and then ended up tearing one page out.

Look very closely at what's on that page

An ad for ACU

I guess she's what they say "Born to be a Wildcat"!

Getting Ready for Christmas

I think Madeline enjoyed getting ready for Christmas.

First we put up the tree.  We just put on a few ornaments which were mostly not breakable.  They were actually one's that I had on the tree when I was a small child.  Some of them were even hand crafted by your's truly in elementary school.

Ooo, what is this?

Seeing the lighted tree for 1st time

Pretty

All Christmased up

for our Christmas card picture.

Picking out which ornaments to use

Rudolph's pretty tasty, mom

1st Christmas ornament

Making sure it's in just the right spot

Who's this guy?

Finished product