How I spent my first Christmas

This past Sunday was Christmas Day. You may have heard or read something about it. Like I said in my previous post, I spent Christmas with Dad's family over in Kennewick. Rather than bore you with any ramblings about how my very first Christmas went, I thought I'd just share with you some of my favorite photos from our family time. Enjoy!

Some quality time with Grandpa and my cousin Addison.

Cousin Madeline, Auntie Heather and cousin Addison. From the time we got to Kennewick on Dec. 22 until Auntie Heather and Uncle Brian left on Christmas Eve, I'm pretty sure I spent about 97% of that time in Auntie Heather's arms. And I loved every minute of it.

Since Auntie Heather and Uncle Brian went home on Christmas Eve, we opened presents two days early, on Dec. 23. As you can tell from the photo, I wasn't exactly sure what to think of this doppelganger I received from Grammy and Grandpa.

Nobody loves wrapping presents more than my Auntie Carri. Obviously she couldn't get enough, so she moved on to Addison (who definitely didn't mind).

With all the dogs we had in the house this year (it was these three, plus another who was too shy to have her photo taken), I felt like the Old Man in "A Christmas Story" trying to deal with the Bumpus Hounds.

Speaking of "A Christmas Story," we all watched it after opening presents. Grammy and I made it about 20 minutes before we passed out. From what I've been told, the only people to watch it to the end were Dad, Uncle J and Madeline.

Here I am with Dad (who happens to be sporting a pretty creepy grin), getting ready to head to church for Christmas Eve service. And yes, I'm quite aware of how cute I look in my church clothes -- hence the smirk on my face. That hat, by the way, was a present from Auntie Heather and Uncle Brian.

Here I am with Dad (looking a bit more human) and Mom after getting home from church. Yep, that's Mom's homemade Santa hat perched on my head.

Christmas morning is finally here! I celebrate with a nice little fist pump. And in case you're wondering, that outfit is just as comfy as it is adorable.

After a fun day at Grammy and Grandpa's and an excellent dinner at Auntie Carri and Uncle J's, I was pretty tuckered out, so I went to bed early. Good thing, too -- we were on the road at 6 a.m. on Dec. 26 to get to Redmond to celebrate with Mom's family.

This year, instead of getting each other gifts, we did a White Elephant exchange. One of the presents was a pack of steaks. My cousin Brooklyn was a big fan.

My cousin Jackson got a little too creative when it came to make-your-own-pizza.

Getting cozy with Brooklyn and my Uncle PJ. And yes, I'm still wearing the outfit I wore the day before. Don't judge me.

Grandpa (we call him Grumps) devised a fun game using some hose, bowling pins and oversized marbles. As much as we enjoyed it, I think he had more fun with it than anybody else did.

Anyway, Christmas definitely lived up to the hype. Lots of fun with both sides of the family, a good haul of presents (no pony this year, but maybe next year), and plenty of time spent with Mom and Dad, since Dad had a few extra days off work.

I'm already looking forward to next Christmas, but until then, I hear there's another holiday on the way in just a day or two. I've got my two-month checkup this morning, and then it's off to Lake Cavanaugh to celebrate New Year's with some friends.

Holiday happenings

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around our house. Over the past few weeks, Mom and Dad have put up a Christmas tree and a handful of other decorations to celebrate the holidays. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. Because as much as Dad loves Christmas, I’ve been told from reputable sources (read: Mom) that he’s never been big on putting up decorations and lights and stuff like that.

It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate giving our home a festive look – more that he’s just incredibly lazy. Need an example? Apparently last year, the extent of his holiday decorating was to plug in a Christmas-themed nightlight. And he never even bothered to switch it on.

But it turns out that, since this is going to be my first Christmas, they decided to pull out all the stops. And frankly, I’m a little flattered that all it took for them to get off their butts and make some sort of effort was to have a kid.

So anyway, they put up the tree a couple of weekends ago, and they also went out and bought a new stocking for me to go along with theirs. I think it looks pretty good up there. As for the tree, it’s not that big (just six feet), but then again, neither is our living room, so it fits pretty well.

Look what Santa left under the tree.

That’s just one aspect of the holidays that we’ve been enjoying so far. Here's another: On Dec. 10, we went down to Alki Beach with Auntie Amy and Uncle Ben to check out the Christmas Ship Festival. It’s not as exciting as it sounds (or maybe it’s exactly as exciting as it sounds): It’s just a bunch of ships floating by with choirs onboard, singing to the people onshore. Nothing earth-shattering, but still an enjoyable way to get into the holiday spirit. Plus, it gave me a chance to get all bundled up in my cold-weather outfit and snuggle up close to Dad.

And on top of all that, I got to see Santa Claus riding a motorcycle. Not too shabby.

Afterward, we went for a drive to look at Christmas lights, and I experienced this:

Even Clark W. Griswold thinks this is too gaudy, but who cares? You can FEEL the Christmas spirit radiating from this house! (Or maybe it’s just the heat being produced by 50,000 volts of electricity. I couldn’t tell.) We haven’t had a chance to make it by this house yet this year, but hopefully soon. Mom and Dad have checked it out the past couple of years, and it never disappoints.

Oh, also, I just realized that it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve mentioned just how amazing my mom is, and that’s far too long. She wanted to get a Santa hat for me this Christmas, but instead of going out and buying one, she MADE one. What’s more, it only took her about two hours total (hand-sewn, no sissy sewing machine). Here I am early in the process, when she was making sure the fit was right. Good Lord, I look stupid. I look like the Elf on the Shelf.

Was the final product worth the humiliation of that previous photo? Judge for yourself below. I’m inclined to say yes. Was it worth paying twice as much for fabric and supplies as it would've cost to just buy a hat at Target? Even Dad says yes.

But here's the real test: Was it worth the two hours we spent inside Jo-Ann Fabrics, waiting for our number to be called just so we could buy less than a yard of fabric? Normally I’d say no, but it was actually pretty entertaining making fun of all the Christmas-sweater-wearing cat ladies who spend their weekends hanging out at fabric stores.

In case you’re wondering – and, if you’ve read down this far, you at least have some passing interest in my life – I’ll be spending my first Christmas in Kennewick with Dad’s family (we’ll have the whole clan together for the first time since I was born), then we’ll be heading over to Redmond on Dec. 26 to do it all over again with Mom’s family. I’ll let you know if I get anything good in my stocking.

Smile Button!

So my parents have taken to calling the little dimple on my chin my "Smile Button." They seem to believe that, just by pressing it, it'll make me smile. I'd like to think that I'm not that easily manipulated, but I guess the video speaks for itself.

A couple of notes: This is my first time uploading a video on this here blog machine, so please let me know if it doesn't work. I'm far too cute for anybody to miss any footage of me in action. Also, we've had a lot of Christmas-related happenings around the house over the past week. I'll be recapping those later this week.