Christmas 2011

Christmas is magic, no doubt about it. 

This year, it was a little different than normal.  We had already finished almost all of our shopping (on my list of things to get done before the arrival of our new little one), and so were able to spend the month cuddling our new baby Belen and loving all the visitors and friends that came to help out.  It was quite nice.

Zack and Ashlee finally came and stayed with us, and it was wonderful.  Zack played catch with Mac and Ashlee was my baby whisperer.  We made it out to Newport and just missed the Christmas boat show.  We also trekked out to Long Beach to walk around Little Venice and witness the amazing neighborhood Christmas light contest they have going on. 

That's something I will really miss about California.

A couple of days after they left, we packed up the car and made our way up to Utah.  Mac found my camera and documented a lot of it.

Mac's seatbelt.

Oh, it was nice to come home to my parent's!  We have spent the week passing the baby, finding different techniques to make her smile, and playing with Mac.  Trent has really wooed him with the "speakers" and "lalala song" dance parties in his room.  Rachel gave Bel her first manicure, and successfully babysat them both so Mark and I could go on a date.  (Can't remember the last time we actually went OUT on a date.)

 The Christmas traditions went smoothly, dispite Mac's sudden Scrooge-y-ness.  He was not excited to play Joseph in the nativity, nor did he want to listen to the story of Poochy the Pup.

Mary and a more vocal version of Baby Jesus.

 He did however, get into opening his presents from Santa's Elves.  (Pajamas!  Surprise!)  We felt he would absolutely man-handle all those gifts under the tree the next morning.

 Christmas morning came, and Mac was sure to get everyone up at a balmy six a.m.  Once Nana and Bumpa were out of bed, we hustled up the stairs to find our loot.  And look what Santa brought ... a red flyer bike!

 The glow-sticks in his stockings were a hit.  Such a hit, in fact, that he did not want to bother opening anything else up.

 Belen slept like a champ through the whole thing, despite the "Utah-stuffed-nose" my poor little California babies get every time we come.  I guess they just can't handle the climate change without some effect on their noses.  Break out the humidifiers!

 Eventually we convinced Mac to move on to another present, and met with the same dilemma.  Each present he opened was magic, and he wanted to play with it right away.  It took quite some time to get everything open. Thankfully, we started at six and church wasn't till eleven.

 After showing off our little family to all my old ward-members, we hustled home to talk to our two missionaries.  Jamie and Jake were lucky enough to be in areas that had the latest and greatest version of Skype, so we could all talk at the same time!!

OH I have missed those two lovely faces!!!  Next Christmas will be even more magical ... they should both come home right before. 

The rest of the day was spent playing with toys, eating food, and just enjoying each other. 

How we love to be home for the holidays.  Sigh.