Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a wonderful beginning to our holiday celebration, although it got off to an exhausting start. We had hoped to be able to see Eric's dad that afternoon but that didn't work out, so we took advantage of the free time to knock out some of the more pressing items on our to-do lists: cleaning, unpacking, organizing, wrapping presents, cooking. We got a ton of stuff done, at least!

Ellie decided to "politely decline" her late afternoon nap, so we were a bit nervous about how she would do at church that evening. But, we got her all dressed in her Christmas finery and were off to the 5:00 p.m. service at my old church.

Family photo before church

With my dad

Maybe she was so tired she was delirious, but Ellie was as good as gold through the whole service. In fact, she was downright delightful. She climbed around on the pew, chatted with the people sitting behind us, and cuddled on my lap. She was smiley and happy and precious. What a little Christmas angel!

After church we went back to my dad's house, where my sister soon joined us. She and Ellie spent some time playing, and then we took a few family photos (which was a bit of an ordeal, thanks to Achilles' inclination to chug too much water when we first get home and then throw up everywhere. Poor Eric's pants too the brunt of it, but I'll spare you those pictures!).

Ellie and Aunt Heather

Dogs in Santa hats are super funny.

She always goes right for the face!

Somebody is looking sleepy!

Ellie was super tired, but I just wasn't ready to end her Christmas Eve quite yet, so we spent a little more time playing before getting her into her Christmas pajamas and ready for bed.

Left: my smiley Christmas sweetheart (can you see her shiny new bottom two front teeth?)

Right: Reindeer butt!

Once Ellie was in bed, the rest of us enjoyed our Christmas dinner of ham and potato casserole. We had some nice conversation around the dinner table, and then made our way into the family room with some egg nog and/or homemade crock pot hot chocolate in hand.

Somehow, things took a turn for the goofy, and we all ended up sporting strange headwear for a photo op. Oh, family!

Christmas chic

Crazy hats and hug mugs! (Hug mugs are made for hot chocolate drinking - they're the perfect shape to be clutched in your hand for warmth!)

Crazy hats! Eric is sporting the biggest leaf I ever saw, Heather has a Christmas bow, I have Ellie's knit poncho, and my dad has possibly the most "vintage" Cleveland Browns hat left in this world.

When the silliness died down a bit, it was time to exchange gifts. We opened our gifts from each other and ones that out-of-state relatives had sent. We all received very nice presents!

Eric received a bathroom humor mug from Heather, and is very excited about it.

Heather's new Ellie & Achilles calendar

Heather got me a lovely New York necklace, so that I can keep my city close to my heart!

Photobook for my dad!

Piles of presents!

Achilles got a delicious gingerbread man treat

My dad's gift to Ellie: a rocking chair that he originally refinished for baby me, many, many years ago. Now, it belongs to Ellie!

Gift-giving success!

After the gift exchange, we turned on A Christmas Story and relaxed a bit. Eric and I finished up wrapping our gifts for each other and then we brought in all of Ellie's presents from Santa. It was really nice to have the space to set up our own family tree in our living room, so that we could place Ellie's first Christmas gifts under our own tree.

Our tree

Santa came!

We couldn't wait for Ellie's first Christmas morning.

Achilles checking out the loot

And that was our Christmas Eve! We stayed up a little later than planned, just admiring the tree and chatting with Heather, but we were all exhausted and soon retired to rest up for a very busy Christmas Day to come. It was a great family evening!