Early Christmas Present! (x2)

November 2nd, 2011

I love Christmas.

I mean, I really, really love Christmas.

The only thing that I don't completely love about Christmas is that it doesn't last nearly long enough.

So last year when I had to dismantle my beloved Christmasy House, I decided that I was going to decorate early this year. When we got a Snow Day today, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to put up my beautiful 2nd tree (my newest tree for the family room...) early. It brings me such happiness, I can't even begin to tell you. Combined with my new carpet, it's like total giddiness whenever I walk in the room... :) So the first early Christmas present was for me - putting my 2nd tree up early!! :)

Also, I bought the girls the most amazing, wonderful early Christmas gift back in September. I have just been dying to give it to them, but I didn't want to do it until this month.

So I took advantage of the fact that Ryann was sleeping in and therefore unavailable to hassle me, and put up my beautiful tree while the snow fell outside.


I wrapped up the girls present and waited for Ryann to wake up. Everyone was excited to get to to open a Christmas present right away, but not nearly as excited as I was to give it to them... :)


Skye & Bayli did the honors, and unwrapped the beautiful package to see a white envelope sitting perfectly on the red tissue paper. They quickly threw both on the floor looking for the present underneath, which of course, totally made me laugh, because the envelope WAS the present...


Inside... FIVE tickets to see The Lion King in Denver this month!!

I don't know who is more excited, me or the kids... :)

Ryann & Madi were really wanting to go, but the little ones didn't know much about it, so Ryann immediately got her laptop to show Skye & Bay some YouTube videos of the Broadway show. :)

I can't help but feel so very blessed to be able to do such wonderful things with my sweet girls.

We can't wait!!!!

Christmas Dinner for 13

I was so thrilled to have all our wonderful family here for Christmas Dinner.

All 13 of us.

I loved, loved, loved cooking the big dinner (but totally didn't miss doing the turkey myself - thanks for that Momma!!).

The food was delicious, the company was better, the day was perfect.

Christmas Morning

There is nothing more magical than Christmas morning...

the excitement, the happiness, the chaos, the mess - I love every bit of it...

the traditional egg nog on the stairs that none of my kids but Ryann even like, the fact that the girls tolerate all my picture-taking, Bay being allowed to eat chocolate from her stocking for breakfast...

It's a miraculous day. :)

This year I felt especially blessed to have a peaceful, loving, normal Christmas.

Just like any other year.

Santa was good to the girls, like always - among other things, Ryann got a laptop, Madi got an iPod Touch, Skye & Bay got their much-desired Pillow Pets.

But the best gift of all was just a beautiful, fun Christmas morning, where my girls be with both of their parents & just enjoy the excitement of the day. :)

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!

Brunch at Grandma Dew's

My sweetest littlest girl was running around the house this morning, saying "Santa! Santa! Santa! I can't believe it!! We'll have to get some chocolate milk & cookies & a carrot for the reindeer! They will like that I think..." Some excitement at my house on Christmas Eve, I think the very best day of the whole year... :)

When my parents finally moved back to Colorado a couple of years ago, my Mom knew that we usually had dinner on Christmas Eve with Mike's mom, so we started the tradition of spending the morning of Christmas Eve at my Mom's house for brunch. My girls were immediately sold on the crepes, and the Christmas Eve Brunch has quickly become one of our most favorite things. :)

This year was no different, except that I was overcome with gratitude for the beautiful friendship that I have with Mike, which allows us to be together with our kids on special days like this. I will be eternally grateful for his friendship, generosity & kindness, and it was especially present in my mind during the holidays this year - our children were able to enjoy Christmas with both of their parents, surrounded by love, stability & happiness. Our friendship has been an amazing & unforeseeable gift to all six of us. I am grateful.

The rest of the day was just as wonderful as always, delicious food, fun desserts (the "cakeballs" were a giant hit!), presents and my most favorite company.

I am truly blessed. There is no Christmas gift that is better than what I have already...

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Christmasy House

Nothing makes my heart more joyful than my beautiful Christmasy House.

Welcome Back.

I've missed you so.

Letters to Santa :)

Skye wrote these incredibly precious letters to Santa.

I don't even have words for how adorable & sweet they are...


I love Christmastime.
I love that girl.

Christmas Cookies with Grandma

One of the most fun traditions that my girls have with their Grandma Dew is baking Christmas Cookies!

No matter how young they are, or how old they get, they are always up for some cookie-baking with their Grandma, who tends to be heavy on the sugar and light on the rules... :) My Mom loves it just as much as they do, and it's such a joy for me to see them interacting together and just enjoying each others' company. It's one of my favorite days of the whole year. (I don't mind the chance to sneak away for a couple of hours for a movie or some last-minute Christmas wrapping either...)

Ryann was in charge of the photo-taking & did a great job.

I especially love the ones of Bay sampling everything... :)

So much fun!

And a wonderful reminder of how lucky I am to have these 5 amazing girls in my life.

Festival of Trees

November 20, 2010

I can't even tell you how excited I was this year that my three big girls were dancing at the Festival of Trees.

Watching them dance is one of my life's greatest joys, so any day I get to see them perform is a special day in my book. But to have it during the holidays, already my most favorite time of year, and when my brother & his family were in town to watch - well, that was really about as good as it gets...

The girls were all fabulous. I thought every number was too short, :) but I loved it all.

Skye & her class singing "Tomorrow" from Annie had me in tears.

Every. Single. Time.

What is it with me?

She was fabulous, just like her big sisters.

What a fun day with family & a great way to kick off the Holiday Season.

After the show, we walked around looking at the beautiful trees for auction & the girls got to visit Santa!

Serious fun.

Christmas Pictures

Every year I put a lot of thought, time & energy into our family Christmas card picture, card & letter.

I always try to capture life for us at the time & make it an appropriate snapshot of what our family is like at that particular point in time.

So, this year, the Christmas picture was a dilemma for me...

I decided to just go with what is.

I had this idea to do a picture of the girls & me, holding hands & walking away.

Moving forward.

Together...

I also got some other very cute pics of my beautiful girls...

Bay has a special fondness for our Christmas pic photographer. :)

Goodbye Christmasy House :(

So sad to have to say goodbye to my beautiful, magical Chrismasy house.

This year was especially fun with my beautiful 2nd tree in the family room and my double-decker of icicle lights on the house. It was all so gorgeous.

Even though I took all my beautiful Christmas things down, poor Bayli just doesn't understand that it's not Christmastime anymore. She keeps saying "Santa's coming!!", asking to watch Polar Express, wanting to listen to Jingle Bells in the car, and instead of saying "Goodbye", she says "Merry Christmas!!".

My sweet Christmas Baby.

A year seems like a long, long time to wait before we can do it all again...

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner is always something to look forward to, but especially when Grandma & Grandpa come!

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner all over again and it was way delicious if I say so myself! :)

After dinner, we had so much fun playing Apples to Apples before Grandma & Grandpa gave everyone fun presents.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by loving family.

A wonderful, fun, beautiful Christmas Day.

Christmas Morning

There's just nothing like Christmas morning...

Things I want to remember:

• the way Bayli tried to wear her stocking
• Ryann jumping up & down, then hugging her Dad when she discovered her ipod touch
• Cooper running around for 15 minutes with his bone still inside the package
• Skye breaking the rules to run downstairs and peek at the tree!
• Madi so excited about her ipod
• Ryann & Madi spending most of the day together, on the computer, loading up their new ipods
• Bayli taking all day to open her presents and insisting on wearing every new outfit as soon as she opened it
• Being so thrilled to surprise Mike with his jacket (he loved it!)
• Skye's giant smile
• Mike trying out his jacket to take Cooper on a walk, then giving him a bath afterwards
• knowing that we are so, so blessed

Christmas Eve

Our Family Christmas Eve was doubly fun this year!

This was the first year that my Mom & Dad were here for Christmas, & knowing we usually have a Christmas Eve dinner with Mike's family, my Mom invited us to a Christmas Eve brunch.

The food was yummy but for me, the company was the real treat. I loved being able to spend the day with my Mom & Dad. The girls loved eating as many crepes as they could, Bayli had a nap and loved on the doggies, we exchanged presents and just enjoyed relaxing with family.

After a couple of hours at home to digest, we were off to Christmas Eve party #2 - our traditional Lebanese Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma Bess'!

Like any family get-together, the highlight for Bayli was Uncle Jeff, who spent lots of time with her - snuggling, playing and reading. The Lebanese food was awesome, but a highlight for me was the super-cute family pictures we took downstairs.

It was a really fun night...

It was late by the time we finally got home -Bayli was exhausted and so not cooperative with the rest of the Christmas Eve traditions...

The girls opened their Christmas Eve gifts - new pjs.

After they changed into jammies, we put some baklava out for Santa and Daddy read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Then it was off to bed, visons of sugarplums and all...

What a Merry Family Christmas Eve!