at last...christmas day 2011

daddy, baby and i had a wonderful christmas day. we woke early (but not too early), got ourselves ready and went downstairs to see what santa had brought: a pretty pink cozy coupe car! now this is something aleah had asked for back in october while visiting with stephanie and the boys. we knew that santa had really been paying attention and the little one would get hours of fun out of it, but christmas morning was not the time for us to play at our house. we got packed into the car and headed up to papa's house, where we had a very lively morning with lots of extended family.

i always enjoy the beautiful decorations:

stockings for everyone hung along the fireplace:

cousins glad to be reunited:

we enjoyed a traditional breakfast: cheesy egg casserole, parmesan cheese potato casserole, fresh fruit, yummy homemade muffins, sausages and juice.

none of these images is spectacular; i'm getting a little more critical of my work and i'm always trying to improve, but i need to post and the day was truly beautiful as these images will tell.

then again, i did like this one of nova quite a bit :)

and this one :) she is so sweet and always giggles and smiles at my camera!

sweet new pots and pans!

awesome new golf clubs!

a totally chill jacket!

a brand new puppy...

...and new books :)

we had a lot of fun watching atticus and aleah hang out in a large box. so cute! i experimented a bit with the editing here.

i thought this bag was pretty, and i also liked the new camera bag inside!

aleah's beautiful great-grandma!

i just love watching the cousins together. since aleah doesn't have any young siblings, she is fascinated by other children her age and just loves atticus and nova. we sing "happy birthday" to each of them almost every day. here they are again bonding at the piano.

i didn't get everyone (sorry jeff, diana, lindsey and trevor)...pretty much because i didn't want to move everyone around and the backlighting against that window was pretty strong, but i got a few of the non-regular subjects:

with aunt susie...

i loved this one of sarah and her new purse :) i love new purses too!

and dolly with her sweet smile :)

putting the other "dolly" into mommy's new bag...

...this is the way to hold a bag. she was really flirting with the big kids on the other couch here...

bye-bye bella! hope to see you next year when i'm a bit taller :)

thanks dad and leslie for a beautiful christmas morning. thanks for your generosity and hours of entertainment this day. we love you!

now off to grandma's house we go! when we arrived in the early afternoon at grammy's house, we got reaquainted with the rocking horse...

we also noticed all the pretty christmas details:

grammy and aleah headed upstairs for a little nap while i worked on some of the pictures from the morning and daddy watched some football (or maybe it was basketball...)

after naps at their own house, sara, dennis, atticus and nova joined us again.

i had to put this one in. having a great time dancing! i especially love the bandaid "sticker" she has decorated herself with!!

we had a very good time just hanging out, opening presents, and eating one of our favorite dinners: diane salads from green street (and trader joe's pizza)

i love the pretty christmas trees!

more presents to open?!

playing with atticus' new dish set:

grammy said she didn't notice any pictures being taken, but i did, though not as many as the morning. by this time i was getting tired myself.

watching a bit of tv before we called it a good day and headed home.

thanks for the wonderful time grammy! we miss you and can't wait to visit your house again soon :) love, anne, dale, and aleah