The Best Christmas!

The day I got engaged was "the best day of my life".  Then my wedding day became "the best day of my life".  Then the day Eric and I were both home safe from Iraq became "the best day of my life".  The day we found out we were pregnant soon took over, followed by the day Maddie was born.  Isn't it funny how that works?  Well, Christmas 2009 is going to be REALLY hard to top as the best Christmas ever! 

The fun stuff began on Christmas Eve when we started a new family tradition.  We started buying an ornament for each of us to open on Christmas Eve.  I picked out "Mommy's Artist" for Maddie,

a travel bag, or carry-on for Eric (symbolizing his 100,000+ miles he's flown since April this year)  Eric, please comment with your total, I know it was over 100,000!

and a Mommy and Baby bear having storytime for myself.  (Yes, I picked out my own...it took the pressure off Eric and I was sure to get one I liked)  :)

We also picked out a special ornament for my mom since she was here, but she took it home so I don't have a picture...

Here's Maddie with her ornament.

And touching Grandma's ornament.

Then on to Christmas morning...Maddie kind of understood the concept of Santa, in her own little 18 month old mind.  She knew that Santa brought her presents, but she never asked to see him or asked "go?" (as in, where did he go?).  (A week after Christmas she's still saying Santa when she plays with her kitchen and some of her toys).  She was such a joy to watch on Christmas morning.  The first toy she opened was her "favorite". 

She played with it a while before moving on to open another present.  In fact, I think we had to actually MAKE her leave the first toy alone so she could open more.  She probably would've been fine with just one present.  But...we couldn't stop with one :)  So we got her to open more...

Mommy and Daddy had to help with a few just to keep her moving at a pace that would get us through all the presents in one day (ok, that made it sound like there were a lot more presents than there were...)

Then Daddy helped her open this book from Aunt Laura.  It's a potty book and she is SO into it!  Eric read it to her once right away, then we read it to her a couple more times Christmas day and finally I had to HIDE it from her so I could get a break from it :)  Plus, it's paper pages and she's not quite ready for those books all by herself yet...

Then Maddie got a really sweet handmade "Old World" costume from Auntie Nancy.  Eric just couldn't resist trying on the hat...(it's elastic in the back, that's how it fit over his big head :))

Then we moved on to the playroom.  What could possibly be under this big blanket?!?!  :)

                                  

It was a last minute gift that we found for a SUPER deal and just couldn't resist...

 

A KITCHEN!!!!!

The first thing she had to do was wash her hands.  She's been obsessed with washing her hands since she saw this kitchen.  It's good to know I'm setting a good example :)

One more pose with the kitchen...