Christmas 2012!

We started of the crazy whirlwind of Christmas gatherings we attend at my brother's house, the Sunday before Christmas. My brother and his family were going to be in Columbia Christmas day, so we went ahead and got together with my mom and dad that Sunday. It was a long day for Anderson because we did them back to back. She didn't sleep but like 30 minutes that afternoon, which made for a cranky baby, but it was fun, nonetheless. You'll have to, once again, excuse my lack of pictures.

My nephews with the wrestling masks my mom got them.

My niece, Ally, and Anderson!

Daddy and his baby girl.

Playing with her cousins!

I spent Christmas Eve making lots of food and wrapping presents until it was time to go to the Christmas Eve Service at Earle Street. Well, I got there about 10 minutes before it started and there wasn't a seat in the house. They were going to go get chairs for us, but since we were only going to be able to stay about 30 minutes, I just figured we would leave and try again next year. It's something that's really important to me, so next year I will make sure to get there super early! After we left, we went ahead and went to the Dumit Christmas party. This is a big tradition where Santa comes and everything. Santa even hands out all of the presents. As you can tell, Anderson didn't like this Santa like she did the mall Santa. She was terrified.

Opening presents.

After the Dumit Christmas party, we went home and put some cookies out for Santa and then put Anderson to bed. She didn't want to leave any for Santa, though. She'd rather eat them herself. She loves sweets. A girl after my own heart!

All the goodies that Santa left for Anderson.

I really need a real video camera instead of my phone, so that I can get better videos on Christmas morning. I am determined to have one before next year. It's on my list! Either way, my girl was SO EXCITED when she walked out and saw all of the presents and toys. I couldn't have been happier. It really made Christmas so much more fun! I totally thought she wasn't going to care, but she loved every minute of it. In our house, presents from Santa aren't wrapped, but we wrap presents from us.

She absolutely loves her tent! She will get in that thing and just giggle away. Now that I know she likes it so much, I want to get her a better, nicer one. Santa brought this and didn't know it was so crappy until he took it out of the box when he was setting her toys up.

Already coloring with her Color Wonder makers.

After we enjoyed Christmas morning at out house (it was the only thing I demanded), we went to Tra's brother's house to do Christmas with them and have a big lunch. Anderson enjoyed opening her presents and hanging out with everyone!

Finally, we were supposed to do Christmas with my mom's side of the family, but a few days before Christmas decided not to, and ended up just going to my mom's house for dinner. Even though it was a long day, it was a nice, relaxing and enjoyable one!

Overall, it was a really great Christmas! Having Anderson made it so much more fun! I'm sure it will only get better and better. In past years, I always had my shopping finished and presents wrapped a couple of weeks before Christmas, but this year, because we had Anderson's birthday party a couple of weeks before Christmas, I waited until last minute to do everything. NEVER AGAIN. I was so stressed out this year, and that is so not my personality. I just don't wait until the last minute to do things. Ever. So it doesn't all hit us at once, and because I like giving nice presents that people really enjoy, I am going to put some tax money up so I can get a head start next year, despite Christmas being right around Anderson's birthday. I'm also hoping in the next couple of years to be able to move into a bigger house, so we can have some of the Christmas get-togethers at our house. This way, we wouldn't have to go a bunch of places and be all stressed out. Christmas is not supposed to be so crazy!