Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We certainly had the best Christmas yet, for this little girlie of ours made it so much fun AND as the years go by, we just know more and more, in our hearts what the true meaning of Christmas is, plus, just looking at her each and every day of the holiday season reminded me of Jesus and all that He has given us and just how much he loves us!

In her 21 month post, I will talk more about our Christmas Adventures, this post, I will stick mostly with the actual day of Christmas Eve and Christmas (  not living in the same city as grandparents+traveling being  necessary= more than 2 days of celebrating!)

Aunt Sarah spent the week before Christmas with us and we couldn't have had more fun! The night before we were to all drive to SA to see our families, we pretended like it was Christmas Eve in our house! It was important to me that we have our own Christmas celebration and I am so happy we made an effort to do so and give Bekah a Christmas in her own home.

"Christmas Eve Night"- Daddy and Aunt Sarah helped Bekah make a gingerbread house!

Between me cooking dinner, Sarah taking beautiful pictures and daddy focusing on the construction of the house itself, Bekah got a lot of opportunities to EAT the house and all it's goodies!

I followed the directions on how to make royal icing, and it did eventually harden, but as you can see, not quick enough!

But really, does that sort of thing matter to a 2 year old? : )

Once Bekah was in bed, it was time to put away the highchair and set up Bekah's play kitchen that I bought from a friend of a friend, it was obviousely cheaper and we didn't have to put all the parts together! And yes, she no longer has a high chair, but a little seat that acts as a booster, she doesn't even use the tray, she wants to be pulled up to the table like us! Anyways, we had fun bringing it out and filling up the drawers with goodies!

"Christmas Morning"- Oh I was so excited y'all, to see the look on Bekah's face, when she found that kitchen! Gosh, I sure got a taste of how excited parents get about being "santa" each year!

Of course, that morning, when I knew she would be in a lot of pictures, that is when she decides NOT to wear pants and just some random t-shirt! Thanks to Aunt Sarah's excellent photog skills, the not so cutsie outfit actually turned out oh so cute! And she of course, loved it and pretty much played with it for one hour straight, with us wondering, when we should move on to breakfast and to see what was under the tree!

This pic is my favorite!

This is SO Bekah! SHE put on the heels, SHE didn't want to wear pants . . .

Pants or not, this girl was in her ELEMENT!

She got straight to making "waffles", "soup" and "pizza," and could not have had more fun playing make believe with her Aunt Sarah!

Must have realized she needed a bow . . .

Finally, after some hard core cooking, we could move on to the stocking!

And then the tree! Where Bekah got some goodies from Santa and Sarah , like this giant coloring book, about horses!

In St. Louis, Aunt Sarah actually lives right above a giant coloring book store, lucky Bekah!

She instantly got the hang of opening up presents, such as her "emmy"- her little people airplane : ). Ever since Scotland, the girl has been obsessed with airplanes!

After having a super special day together, we drove to SA to see the fam. First stop, Gramommy and Pops house to visit with Gramommy's extended family. The visit ended up being Bekah's entire nap, but we did have time for some nativity scene playing with Aunt Sarah. I love how interested she is in the nativity, what a great decoration for children to understand the meaning of Christmas : ).

Teehee, I always smile when I catch her sitting like this in chairs : ).

Christmas Eve Night

We went to dinner with the May/Allen family and then, church with both the Burkharts and the Mays! I hadn't really thought much about the fact that the service would be starting at 7pm and how Bekah would handle that, but before I even had a moment ot worry, the minute we walked into the church, a lady approached me, said something kindly, yet assertively about how the church was offering babysitting services to anyone interested and the next thing we knew, we were being whisked off to the nursery! Before I had a chance to decide if I even wanted that ( I had this image of Bekah with us during the candlelight service, her thinking it was so pretty and cool . .  . I know, not realistic!) , Bekah was running to the kitchen in the nursery and pretty much never looked back! She was in there until 8:30 folks without even so much as blinking an eye for mommy and daddy! We joke that it was a Christmas Miracle! : )

Mr. and Mrs. May : )

Christmas Day

We woke up at May May and Grandpa's house, with Jeff and Rani, had a yummy breakfast and,

got our necessary camera equipment ready . . .

and opened presents! Teehee, Uncle Jeff! It's funny, I think Bekah is starting to pick up on how funny Jeff is and seems to always be either smiling at him these days or teasing him : ).

The fam, even Charlie made it in!

In addition to getting the hang of opening up presents, she also thought every one of them was hers and would pick it up and say, "Bekahs!" and pat her chest : ). Teehee, it was at this moment that we executed full momentum to show her sharing, but making her be the one to hand out the presents! After awhile she got the hang of it, with lots of praise and clapping from her audience of course! 

Her big present from May May and Grandpa, an easel!

Then, it was time to head off to go back to Gramommy's and Pops to open presents there!

The Burkharts : )

I was really trying for a full length shot of her dress, I just love it! Zack took one look at her in this Scottish souvenir of hers and declared it to be his favorite dress on her : ).

I think, the kitchen is her number one present of the season, but a close runner up, might have to be the tea set that Aunt Sarah gave her : ).

and to join that esteemed group of toys, would be, her new, Bitty Baby!

Zack, Bekah and I would  like to introduce to you, Barbara Burkhart!

Yes,I said, Barbara! When asked what her name was, Bekah replied, "Barbra!" We were like, "what?? come again??" And she said, "Barbra!" To which we said, "Barbara?" And she was like, "Yes!"

So, Barbara it is!

She has no friends named Barbara, no relatives, we really don't know where the name came from, the only idea we have is that Zack sometimes sings her the Beach Boys song, Barbara Ann?? Either way, I think it is hilarious and I fully embrace this very nonBittyBaby name because it makes me smile every time my 2 year old says it!

Bekah couldn't believe the way that she and Barbara had matching tutu's also and is now officially obsessed with tutus! Not an easy thing to wear daily in the winter , guess it helps that we live in Texas : ).

After acquiring her new best friend, we headed back to my parents house to celebrate Christmas with the Frolows!

Bekah LOVED all that they gave her, especially her new Baby Einstein books!

And later on that night, we went BACK to the Burkharts for a delicious Christmas Dinner! : )

Christmas Chefs at work in the kitchen : ) .

Bekah continued to make sure Barbara and her tea set never left her sight, good thing those two gifts go well together : ).

She recruited tea drinkers wherever she went : ).

Making for some pretty precious pics! Thanks again Sarah for all of your pictures this break!

They even have matching headbands that now, Mommy ends up being told to wear, so much so, that I definitely was visiting with a neighbor the other day, not realizing I was still wearing it : )!

Not that I really mind, dressing up with my little girl and playing pretend with her is one of my favorite things to do these days!

What a blessed Christmas our little blessing had!

Merry (late!) Christmas everyone!