i am determined to get the Christmas post up in december... so better late than never right? same went for my Christmas cards, i sent them out on Christmas eve! but Christmas always has been and probably always will be my favorite holiday to celebrate. not only is it so significant and sweet to think of the humble beginnings of my Savior, but it has always been the "big" holiday in my family. now with evan, things only got a million times better! so here is a summary of all the celebrating that went down before Christmas day...
the first Christmas present was "opened" on december 23. that's when my parents bought evan his "big" christmas gift from them, a jumper! so we went ahead and put it together- he LOVED it! he's in it as i write this post.
then there was Christmas eve. what a fun day! since my parents were busy moving into their newly purchased home here in seneca, matt, katie, evan, and i spent the morning just hanging out at our house and we all watched the polar express together. evan loved it (he is such at tv junkie if given the chance)
then we did something we've never done before, we went out for Christmas eve dinner. my mom said she did not want to have to cook or clean, since she had spent the last couple of days doing nothing but unpacking, and everyone was into the idea of going out, so we did! we ate at copper river, it was delicious! there was a sweet old man sitting at the table next to us with his family who kept talking to my grammye about evan. before he left he gave evan $1 as a Christmas gift, isn't that so sweet! anyway... i think we may see a new tradition around here for Christmas eve.
matt's plate, my plate, and katie's plate- all three of us with out filets!
then we went back to our house of an age old tradition in the natella house- opening one present on Christmas eve. we couldn't do that until we completed another tradition though, katie and me changing into our matching Christmas pj's which our parents buy for us every year (and have since we were babies). (in case you didn't know this, katie and i have always have been treated like twins, and we like it that way!) this year, of course, they bought evan pj's too! he stole the show... such a cutie pie!
finally, we began the opening festivities. i opened one of katie's gifts to me (as i always do) and here is what i found-
she made these for my craft room! i love them!
then we let evan open his gift from us. matt and i decided to start our own tradition with the Christmas eve gift. we are going to give our children a book every year, specifically now and for the next few years a Christmas book. then we are going to read the book! as they get older, we may change to a book they want and a game for us to play that night, but that's a new smith tradition. so we let evan open his book. i did not expect a 4 1/2 month old to be so into and good at opening a present, but he was all over it!
all of that work finally led up to "the night before Christmas"
then i read it out loud to everyone. it was a great Christmas eve! i loved every minute of it. so full of happiness, which is what the season is all about, joy and happiness and the people you love, which is exactly what this night was for me.
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