Ceili loved her Christmas dress - she called it her Princess dress!! She would just twirl around in it and say "I look like a princess!!" She actually even told me that she just needed her crown and she'd be a beautiful princess!! She loves wearing "princess" dresses and nightgowns, and a princess she is for sure!! What she may not know though, is that dress or no dress and crown or no crown, she's always a beautiful princess!!
We celebrated Christmas at Nana and Papaw's the Sunday before and spent the whole day there - everyone had a great time!! The 3 little ones wore their matching jammies and looked oh-so-cute...until Ceili had an accident and had to change out of them. Growing up, we have always had our "stairs" picture on Christmas morning, so we took the one with ALL of us "kids"...but there are so many of us that we may just need to stick with the grandkids from now on!!Below, Carter and Keira are sharing the push-toy...how cute do they look?! Same color hair, same height, same jammies, etc...if you didn't know better you may actually think they are twins!!
After Christmas Eve mass, we went over to Jamie and Matt's for some Chinese food and to hang out a bit. Shawna used to have it at her house but then once she moved, I started having it at my house. Well, this year, Jamie decided to offer to host it since I am pregnant this year. It was nice of her to do it because I didn't have to worry if my house was perfect or not...or cook like in the past! Once we got home, we opened our Christmas Eve gift...and to our surprise, we all got new jammies!!! Above is a picture of Ceili and Justin with their new jammies!! Before bedtime, Ceili helped me get Santa's cookies and milk ready and set them by the fireplace for him to have a snack while he stopped by our house. She was very particular on which cookies we had to put on his plate...and, I have to admit, she did eat a cookie or 2 while we made his plate!!
Above: Our tree Christmas morning, with the presents just waiting to be opened!!Below: Some of my favorite additions to the tree this year...
Ceili helped me make the Reindeer ornament with her handprints this year and thought it was the greatest craft!!
Ceili surprised us with this ornament with her handprint in it - she made it for us with Nana during one of their days together each week! We love it and will cherish it FOREVER!! She was so proud of it - what a big girl she is becoming!!
I decided that I wanted to put picture ornaments on the tree each year and just change the picture out every Christmas season. This is the picture I picked for this year - one of my absolute favorite pictures ever!!
These are our pictures on the steps for this year - didn't turn out quite how it was "supposed" to, but she was just too anxious to see what Santa had left her to sit and pose for a picture! And, we didn't feel like "making" her do it, so we took what we could get...because after all, that is Ceili!!
Below, Ceili is excited to see what Santa left her!! She has been wanting this Princess vanity for a while now, and every time we would go past the Disney store, she would have to stop and show it to us...and of course play with it as long as we'd let her! Well, about 2 weeks before Christmas, she went into the store and turned to the spot the vanity had always been sitting and it was GONE!! She was so confused and just kept saying "Where did it go? I need to find it!" Well, Christmas morning, as soon as she saw it, she said "I found it!!" She also loves pretending to cook, so the kitchen was a huge hit as well!!
I carried on a tradition from my childhood...sour cream coffeecake for breakfast on Christmas!! I also made a breakfast casserole - I think Ceili and Daddy enjoyed it all!
Christmas evening, we headed over to Granny and Papa Bob's to celebrate and eat dinner. Here is Granny, with Ceili, looking at the Christmas book they got her. And then, there is a picture of my Granny with me after she gave me the quilt she made me! It is absolutely beautiful - it's amazing what my Granny can do!! She is so talented - I hope someday I can be even just a little bit as talented as she is!!
The Friday after Christmas, we headed over to Kim and Bill's house to hang out. There were 9 kids 5 and under...4 that were 4 or 5 and 5 that were 2 1/2-3!! The kids all go to school together and have so much fun...all of us parents were even able to play a few games in the kitchen while the kids played. How often does that happen with a house full of little ones?! Below is a picture of the kids once they were worn out and decided to watch a movie. We were missing 2 for the picture because they had already left, but we thought it was too cute how they were all cuddled together watching tv!! 
I think that is about it for December...I'll try to get some more pictures edited and posted soon!
I think that is about it for December...I'll try to get some more pictures edited and posted soon!
