Christmas 2014: Our First Christmas in San Antonio

Derek had to work on Christmas Eve but got home just in time for us to eat a quick dinner & head to the Christmas Eve service at the church that Shelby's preschool is affiliated with. The church had a special candlelight Christmas Eve service especially for families with small children, complete with a birthday party for Jesus! It was perfect for our girls, they loved it! And Shelby was delighted to show us "her chapel." :)

After church, we came home & baked cookies for Santa!

Hadley inspecting our work ;)

After we finished the cookies for Santa, we told the girls it was time to go to bed so Santa could come & deliver their presents. Shelby looked at us so matter-of-factly & said: "But we don't need any more presents, we already have so many!" ;)  In years past, we've always opened presents at Grammy & Grampy's, BooBoo & Pop-Pop's, and Grandma & Granddad's. This was the first time all the presents were shipped to us & were under our tree all at once. After Shelby's comment, we let the girls open up a couple gifts before bedtime to space out the gifts a bit. What a rough life they've got! ;)

On Christmas morning, Shelby came downstairs to our room bursting with excitement that it was Christmas!! :)  We thought last year would be THE year where she would come bouding down the stairs to see what Santa had brought, but in actuality we had to go in & wake her up and coax her down the stairs disspelling confusion about what had happened. But this was our year!! :)  Thankfully, she was happily pacified to watch a Christmas movie with Mommy while Daddy & Hadley slept in a bit longer. When we finally heard Hadley waking up over the monitor, we told Shelby she could run up to her room.

Even though new presents were waiting downstairs to be opened,
the girls phyically cannot leave their room without a few stories in the morning ;) 

Opening stockings before breakfast :)

This was the best reaction from Shelby on Christmas morning.
She is opening up her new Mulan plush doll from Mommy & Daddy. :)

Of course we had to stop opening presents to read our new books! :)

This picture cracks me up--Hadley gave up on reading to play with Elmo, but Shelby just kept on reading ;)

Skyping with Emi & Chris while we opened their presents

After the girls opened all their presents, we told them we thought Santa had left them one more thing outside on the back porch...
they were delighted to discover a sandbox waiting for them!! :)

I got Derek a gift certificate to go golfing with a friend for his Christmas gift along with an electric blanket. Surprisingly, it has been a chilly winter here so far this season & our huge open staircase in our house keeps the upstairs nice & warm but leaves our main floor quite drafty which is problematic b/c our bedroom is on the main floor. Every night as we get in bed, Derek always fondly reminsces over his childhood days with his electric blanket....so I finally got him an electric blanket. ;)  My big gift from Derek was a new Roomba robotic vacuum, and I don't know which of us is enjoying it more, ha!! I'm loving the clean floors & Derek is loving the excuse of playing with a robot. ;)  Vacuuming is hands-down my least favorite chore. First of all, I just don't like vacuuming. Then there's the fact that as soon as I vacuum, the floors are almost immediately covered in crumbs again b/c we live with small children. And thirdly, there just is never a good time to vacuum! I can't vacuum when the girls are awake b/c they start arguing or it makes Hadley cry, but I can't vacuum when they're asleep either b/c the vacuum is too noisy. We had some friends get one a while back that liked it, and then when we visited Derek's dad & Eileen they spoke highly of theirs..so that sealed the deal for Derek! The Roomba is a totally unnecessary gadget that I would never buy for myself (which is exactly what a gift should be!!), but it's so fun & has made my life immensely easier already--I love it!! Thanks, Love!!

Christmas morning flew! Before we knew it, it was time to get the girls fed & down for their naps. When they woke up, we headed over to the Goins' house for Christmas dinner. So hard to believe, but this was our 3rd Christmas celebrating with their family! It is such a blessing to have them here with us in SA. We certainly missed our families, but it was a wonderful first Christmas here in TX!!