The festivities began earlier in the week with Christmas cookie decorating. Bella really looks forward to this and I didn't want to let her down. . . even though I was feeling completely miserable that morning. The cold that hit the kids latched on to me. And it still lingers with all of us. Back to cookie decorating. . . here's Bella armed with some frosting!
She's becoming quite the pro.
All finished! I think we had a few minutes to lay down on the couch before Graydon woke up from his nap.
Christmas Eve!
After the church service, we got the kids changed into their jammies. Poor Bella started to break out into hives that evening. I'm pretty sure these are the result of the cold virus that we just can't seem to shake around here. Thankfully I haven't seen any on Graydon for a couple of days.
Since Bella was not feeling so well, we had Graydon finish his bottle on the floor. He's starting to get whole milk once in a while. We're still working on a sippy cup with him. When the stopper is in, he won't drink from it. When it's out, there's a huge mess. The bottle is just right. And, I have to mention his shirt. It says, "All Mommy wants for Christmas is a silent night." I bought this over a month ago and it was very true at the time as Graydon was not sleeping well at night. Turns out it was even more true now as our house has been overcome with the sickies and no one is sleeping well.
On Christmas Eve they can open one present. Bella was so impatient. The anticipation was about to do her in.
After the kids were in bed, we put the presents under the tree. There are quite a few there. We only get three gifts for each of the kids, and then a gift for each other. If it were just us, then there'd only be eight gifts under that tree. But, the kids get spoiled from church friends and that's what makes up the remainder of the presents.
Christmas morning! Bella's first reaction when coming down the stairs and looking at the tree.
First, each of them checked out their stockings. They were filled with snacks for our road trip to Wisconsin in a couple of days.
Before opening any presents, we lit our Advent wreath.
Graydon beginning to open a gift. I think the most he did was rip it a little. It was probably a waste of time and paper to wrap his gifts. Oh well.
Bella was more than happy to help him out.
Our two kiddos. I was going to try to get a better picture of the two of them, but then I decided not to bother. Both were feeling kind of sick and this was just our reality this Christmas.
Helping Daddy open up his present from me. I got him some snacks for our road trip as well and his big gift was a new robe. He got me the Peanuts DVD set that contained the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas specials. I love those movies!
Graydon liked the boxes.
Baby's first Christmas.
Playing with Daddy (all snug in his robe).
And a close-up of that smile because we just haven't seen much of it during this past week of illness.
Once the presents were all unwrapped, Andy made some pancakes for breakfast. While Graydon napped, the rest of us watched 'Snow White,' one of Bella's presents. Andy and I pretty much fell asleep at that point as well. Eventually, we all got dressed and headed outside to play in the snow.
Graydon stayed put the whole time. He was either unsure of the snow or unable to move in all that get-up. Either way, it made him very easy to keep track of as this boy rarely sits still anymore.
Here's the beginning of our snowman!
One of the gifts for the kids was this snowman kit. Very cool!
Bella put the face on all by herself.
The hat was the final touch.
All finished!
With the snowman complete, we moved on to sledding. There's a little hill just off the church parking lot that is the perfect size for Bella. We tried to get her a sled, but every store was sold out. Some friends from church let us borrow theirs for a little while.
Even Graydon took a turn.
Our Christmas dinner that evening came from a local Chinese restaurant. We know the owners pretty well and since we're heading out of town, we didn't want a huge meal with leftovers. I can't begin to describe how good this food tasted. So delicious! I think this will become one of our Christmas traditions.
Our last plan of the evening was to drive around looking at Christmas lights. It was all going well until Bella's hives flared up again. She was in agony...so itchy. They didn't seem so bad the night before and went away pretty quickly. That was not the case this time. She was crying and wanted to go home. We stopped at a CVS and picked up some Benadryl for her. The meds and a bath really did wonders. She hasn't had any hives today and has seemed fairly healthy.
With sickness lingering in our family the whole week prior to Christmas and then raging up again on the actual day, the holiday didn't go necessarily as planned in every part. But we still celebrated the birth of Jesus and spent quality time together as a family. That's a Merry Christmas to me. :)
