A Very Merry Christmas

The big day has come and gone and I finally got to see what all was in those gifts under our tree!

We had a great Christmas. With my brother's family and my parents in town, both my grandmas, my cousin and Matt's family, we had a full house this year; full of love, laughter and even a few tears. 

The highlights for me were celebrating the birth of our Savior at our church's Christmas Eve service with my family(we took up a whole row!), putting Addy's kitchen together and watching her reaction on Christmas morning, my Dad's tears as he opened a calendar we made him, spending the day with my family and Matt's family and actually getting to wish my cousin, Jamie, "Merry Christmas" in person for the first time in years. Those memories and the following pictures, will be what I remember about Christmas 2012.

Getting ready for the River of Lights

All 3 of us, rockin' the homemade beanies

Watching the choo-choo

Reading with Mamaw

All dressed up for Christmas Eve activities

Getting into trouble

Playing Santa

Oh! These two kill me

 

Sweet ladies, I married into a good family

The sad reality of taking family pictures with a toddler; someone is always blurry

Aren't my parents cute?

Addy and her Christmas surprise

The sweet hat and apron were a gift from her Auntie Morgan

Grandparents and their Grandbabies

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did :)

Christmas Time at the Danner's

I am just loving our house this time of year. 

Our Christmas decorations might not be magazine worthy, but I like them and Matt puts up with them for the Christmas season. And since the Christmas season seems to go by so quickly I thought I would take some time to document what our house looks like this year. 

I love having a fireplace this time of year.

I finally got around to making our stockings this year. We took a little trip to hobby lobby and we each picked our own fabric, then I stitched them together. 

There's a bunch of love under that tree. Looks like our gift exchange is going to be fun one this year.

Some of my favorite ornaments: 

The chef from the Muppets was a gift from Mat // Addy's first Christmas was last year and I love the picture of her in that ornament // Addy's hand print from last year // the view of our tree from my favorite spot on the couch. 

The little elf on the ladder is a hand-me-down from Matt's parents and I love how old it is  // Since Addy is obsessed with trains this year, I bought a train for her to put on the tree // The Alaskan totem pole was a souvenir from our honeymoon // the airplane was another hand-me-down from my in-laws and I think it's great.

Getting the mail has been a lot more exciting this time of year, with all the sweet Christmas cards waiting to be opened. I hang most of them on a piece of ribbon with clothes pins and then set some on the table. How do you display your holiday cards?

I was never meant to be a teacher because I have no skills when it comes to writing on the chalkboard, but I love having a place to display the lyrics from my favorite Christmas song.

"A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices."

So that's the end of the tour. I'm hoping to slowly add to our decorations in the upcoming years, but for now, I think what we have is just great!

What's your favorite Christmas decoration?

Christmas is Almost Here!

Christmas is only days away and the Christmas spirit is going strong at the Danner house.

We have all of our presents bought, wrapped and under the tree, thanks to our sweet little helper.

The first of our Christmas guests arrived today. My brother came up just in time for a bike ride with Matt and his buddies and he brought a plethora of gifts with him. Our tree is over flowing with Christmas goodies.

While the boys are out mountain biking and braving the cold, Addy and I are enjoying a lazy day at home, watching Christmas movies and trying to perfect my homemade Peppermint Mocha. 

Matt and his Dad have been working hard all week trying to get our house Christmas-ready and comfortable for all our guests. He let's Addy "help" him with some things and she loves it! 

We've been wanting to paint and update our guest bathroom for forever and we finally got around to it. I wasn't a huge fan of the paper mache Orecks at first but it's grown on me. It's bold and statement making!

With Christmas coming up, we decided to give up on growing Addy's hair out and finally get rid of the mullet. Here she is last Sunday in her church attire, pre-haircut.

And here's the new do. I love it and wished my hair looked that good short.

What are your plans for Christmas?
 I'm looking forward to church tomorrow and our Christmas eve service. What a treat it will be to worship with my family and our church family.

I also have to admit that I'm pretty anxious to find out what's in all those gifts. We have a special surprise for Addy that doesn't fit under the tree and I can't wait for her to see it.

Addy's First Christmas

Christmas 2011 was a big one. Not only was it Addy's very first Christmas but it was also the first Christmas in our new house and our first time to host Christmas dinner!

Originally, my parents had planned on coming up Friday to spend the weekend with us, but they got snowed in! The road from Las Cruces to Albuquerque was closed and it continued to snow almost the entire day in Cruces. If you are from anywhere near New Mexico, you might know that this NEVER happens! Only a couple hundred miles north, we were enjoying one of the sunniest days we'd had in weeks and my parents were snowed in.  So, instead of going to see the River of Lights, we dressed Addy in her Santa suite and went out for Indian food.... and painted our entire bedroom. (Photos to come!)

My parents were able to make it up Christmas Eve and joined us for the Christmas Eve service followed by a little get together at Matt's parent's house.

 

 Showing off her new Jacket and hat from Grandma.

Christmas Eve at my in-laws. You can't tell in the picture but that's a ginormous, 12 foot tree that my Mother-in-law surprised us all with. Also, my shirt has a reindeer on it... cute right?

On Christmas morning we woke up and found that Santa came and left Addy with her first top tooth! Poor thing was super snuggly that morning and not quite herself the whole day.

Those cute pj's were a gift from Matt who re-created one of my family's traditions of getting new pajamas on Christmas Eve. Momma got a pair too.

Side note: In a previous post I might have referred to Matt as a wanna-be Grinch. I am going to have to retract that statement. He's not a Grinch at all.

These cute little bath animals were another gift from Grandma and the one of her favorites. She carried one in each hand all day long.

Christmas!!!!!!!!

My brother and sister-law weren't able to make it down to Albuquerque this year. They were missed but we were able to skype them for a while. Addy opened her gift and showed off her mad peek-a-boo skills.

 

Boo!
(I don't know why this picture won't get any bigger. I've had some technical difficulties today)

Your first Christmas is pretty stressful and even more so when you're teething. Snuggling with Grandpa makes it better.

See, all better.

I gave a lot of handmade gifts this year and everyone was such a good sport about it. My parents even said they were hoping to get one of my crocheted beanies. My Dad was pretty excited about his as you can see.

Christmas Playtime

Matt's family joined us Christmas night and Addy got to open another round of gifts. This teddy bear used to be Matt's and now it's Addy's. Such a sweet gift from Grandma Ree!

Cousin Cater came over too. Addy tried to help him open his gifts.

He's such a handsome little man.

Well, I'm pooped! It was a fun filled weekend and I haven't even told you about our Cajun Christmas dinner. You'll have to come back tomorrow for that post. :)