Christmas 2011

It's Sunday night, Taylor is sleeping soundly, others are out to play, and I am feeling exhausted and BLESSED this Christmas season!

As a family, we decided to do our own thing on Saturday morning - breakfast out together, a little gift opening, and playtime. :o)

Saturday afternoon it was time for celebration with Ryan's family! Taylor was much more tuned into the whole Christmas present thing, and went crazy over her first gift - a stuffed whale from uncle Jason. She loves whales and yelled, "whale, whale, whale!" while running back and forth LOTS of times, clutching her new little toy. :o)

Snuggling with a handmade pillow by great aunt Jan

And showing off her new blankie made by aunt Liz - monkeys!

We did a late evening drive to BC and woke up to a relaxed Christmas morning at my parent's house. We had a huge bowl of fruit for breakfast that Taylor decided to eat directly out of....

And I got caught eating the last few bites myself a little later :o)

Strike a pose :)

Taylor entertained herself while she waited for everyone to finish breakfast with a little playtime with Speedo (Speedo is so patient and sweet with Taylor :)), piano playing with Mem, stair climbing, and book reading.

Capturing family time (and it almost looks like it is a white Christmas outside!)

She LOVED this little pot with food from uncle Jeff and aunt Jen

Taylor completely cashed out over an hour and a half earlier than her normal nap time, and went down at 11 (hardly any nap the previous two days combined with all the excitement = one tired lady!), so her big gift that was hiding in the basement was saved until later.

Taylor loves to play with food and kitchen sets, and I think I was as excited as Taylor when the surprise gift was revealed and she got her own kitchen from Bapa and Mem! We are working on making our basement into a play area, and this will be a perfect addition to her new play space.

We also got our little lady a basketball hoop to add to the fun - showing off her dunking skills before bedtime. :o)

This was one of the last pictures of the day that I captured, and as I look at this little profile with pigtails, I am left with a feeling of complete joy and thanks.

Thanks for the family that I am blessed with, for the birth of Jesus - the ultimate gift we could ever receive and the reason we come together to celebrate, and joy in thinking of what the future will bring! Next year we'll have another little one, and I can only pray that we will be as blessed in 2012 as we were in 2011!