Christmas Day 2012

We woke up Christmas morning, to presents from Santa, at my parent's house in St. Louis.  I must admit that it's quite a trek getting all the Santa presents to their house along with all the gifts we exchange with the rest of family at the various celebrations.  Although we really enjoy our time in St. Louis, I think we're going to begin a rotation of just traveling every few years at Christmas, or maybe even just travel shortly after Christmas while Mat's still off work.   

The kids were pretty stinkin' cute on Christmas morning!  MJ really "got it" this year and was so excited by all the Christmas hoop-la!

 

Charlotte's first baby doll

Rather unimpressed, but a happy easy-going girl as usual



Christmas morning snuggles with PopPop

Our family all dressed and ready to head to the Keyes Family Christmas...

 

The Keyes Family gathers at Aunt Kathy's and Uncle Warren's in New Melle.  Most all of the fam makes it out there, and it's a big crowd with lots of delicious food!  Unfortunately, this year Grandpa Keyes was too sick (and then Grandma shortly after) and were unable to make it.  It just didn't feel quite the same without them.  Luckily we had seen them a couple times previously and they'd gotten some good time with the kiddos, but I hadn't thought to take any pictures. 



Sweet little Christmas girl at Aunt Kathy's house for the Keyes celebration

Playing with Mema and watching Uncle Warren's train

MJ was so handsome in his little tie and sweater vest.  This was the most still picture I could catch of him...

Chatting with Papa...or is it Santa?  

MJ and cousin Lily playing drums...better at Aunt Kathy's house than mine ;)

 

Loved this pic!  MJ was promoted to the kid table this year and no longer sitting beside mommy and daddy with the little ones.  He looked like such a big boy, and was so proud!

 

After the Keyes Family Gathering, then we headed to Mema and Papa's house for a smaller celebration with them.  They sure did spoil the grand kids with lots of gifts.  MJ was opening gifts forever, and certainly loving every minute of it! 

 

 

Lily and Charlee playing with Lily's new kitchen

Love this shot of Mema reading to the littles.  They love to snuggle up with her and listen to stories.  

Baby C and I

Our last Christmas gathering was the day before we left to return to Iowa. We got together with the Immekus Family at grandma and grandpa's house.  Several of my pics didn't turn out unfortunately, but this shot sure was special.  All of these babies are Grandma and Grandpa Immekus' great-grandchildren.  I believe all are 4 and under!  As you can guess, it was a noisy event.  :) 

Christmas Eve and Such!

Woot, woot!  We're making progress.  About a week or so before Christmas, we headed down to St. Louis.  We're really blessed with a great schedule around the holidays.  With me doing all my work online and Mat working at a college, holiday and summer breaks are awesome!  I count it as a huge blessing knowing that if Mat was still working in the banking/financial industry our family time would look completely different! 

 

 

After we celebrated Charlotte's 1st birthday, we had one day of calm and then the Christmas dash hit! 

Thankful for a little quiet time around Gigi and Pop Pop's house before the Christmas madness kicked into gear. 

Not the greatest picture, but this was such a fun night-at Wild Lights at the St. Louis Zoo.  It was packed, but we still had a great time!

 



Love Charlee's expression here in the penguin house.

 



Gigi and PopPop treated the kids to Build-a-Bear at the zoo! 

 



Uncle Jeff, Gig, and Pop with the little ones

 

Guess what?!  It's Christmas Eve!!

 

On Christmas Eve, we spent some time around the house during the day.  Then, that afternoon we went to a wonderful church service at GiGi and PopPop's church. It was great to focus in on the real meaning of Christmas, and their church does an amazing job of doing so!  MJ and Charlotte did great in the nursery, and were excited to see us again after church.  We then headed back to GiGi and PopPop's house where mom had made a wonderful dinner.  Then, it was on to opening presents. Grandpa Great and Grandpa Bob joined us for dinner and present opening.  Such a wonderful evening!

 

My handsome little guy all ready to celebrate

3 generations preparing Christmas Eve Dinner.  One generation wasn't very helpful.  ;)  She sure looked adorable in her beautiful Christmas dress though!

 



MJ liked to help everyone open their presents.



It's not often you see my two grandpas at the same time, and even though it's not the best picture ever, I know this is one that I will treasure and one day MJ will too.  He's opening his first electric train as both his great grandfathers watch on.

 



Gigi reading her and PopPop's memory book with a little help.

 



MJ was happy to help little sister figure out her new push toy.  She caught on within seconds and was soon zooming all over the house.  Within days, she was then walking!

 



Presents with PopPop

 



We had a tradition this year where the kids unwrapped a Christmas book each night for the month of Decemember.  Here they were ready to unwrap their final book.  Love how sweet they look in their Xmas pj's.  It seems like I was just dressing MJ in these jammies that Charlotte is now wearing.

 



How cute and silly are they?  I promise she was laughing like crazy.  :)

 



Santa came!  MJ's new train he received that night was now circling GiGi and PopPop's tree.  MJ and Charlotte's presents from Santa await them in the morning. 

 

 

Christmas Prep

Rewind with me if you will, as I go back and document some favorite Christmas memories.  It's such an incredibly special time of the year, and there's much I want to be sure to document before I forget.  I'll let the pictures do the talking....

 

 

 

Our 2012 Family Christmas Card-Yes, Keli made a typo.  Oops!  :)

 

I was so excited to dress Charlotte in her first Christmas dress for the children's Christmas party at Loras.  This was our first Christmas event of the season.  I felt like I was in heaven having my little girl to dress up.  Her and MJ both looked so sweet that day. 

 



She didn't look quite so sweet an hour later though when she met Santa for the first time.  Her reaction was priceless.  She was happy as could be until I backed away, and then she screamed bloody murder and wanted nothing to do with Santa.  What kind of mom would I be though if I didn't quickly snap the obligatory "first time on Santa's lap" photo?  Poor baby!  

Even MJ was a tad leery.  He avoided direct eye contact with Santa, but still managed to whisper what he'd like for Christmas. 

 

 

 

I had fun one afternoon taking a few pictures of my Christmas baby.  She's sitting on the afghan that she was wrapped up in while in the hospital on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2011.  

 

 

 

This pajamas were a gift from Jackie Shelton for MJ when he was a baby.  I loved dressing him in them, and little sister looked just as cute modeling them as well!

 



Decorating a new home was quite fun this year!  Since we were going to be traveling for Christmas, I didn't go quite all out, but my favorite thing was having a fireplace and mantle to finally hang our stockings from.   Our home felt cozy and full of love this December!

 



Mat had been envisioning our Christmas tree in the front window since the day we first looked at this house. 

 



This little Christmas village was handed down to me by Grandma Dorsie (or Grandma Great as he refer to her for the kids).  She was such a lover of all things Christmas, and I love that I have so many items of hers to now use in my own home and share with my children.

 



We were excited for the arrival our Elf on the Shelf, Dewey, again this year.  This picture doesn't quite capture how sweet his moment was, but MJ loved to wake up first thing in the morning to search for Dewey's location.  One morning when I came downstairs, MJ had spotted Dewey up on he mantle.  He'd pulled in a chair from the dining room and was just standing there staring at Dewey.  The rules are that they can't touch the elf, and I think it took all his restraint not to!


We even had our first snow of the season in December, so this made for Charlotte's first time to play in the snow.  For it being her first time, she was quite the fan!  I remember the first time we took MJ in the snow, and as soon as we sat him down in it, he just cried.  He must take after his mama a bit more.  ;)  Charlotte seemed in heaven though as big brother pulled her around in her baby sled.  She even sled down a small hill by herself at only 11 months.  My daredevil! 

 

While at a Dubuque Saints hockey game, Santa made an appearance and took photos with the kids.  How lucky for us that this was even the same Santa we'd seen previously at the Loras' Christmas Party.  Again, MJ was excited to see and talk to Santa, but avoided looking directly at him.  Ha!

 

This was by far one of the cutest Christmas memories this past year!  I created a video message from Santa using a website I heard mentioned online (thanks, Bobi!!).  You can personalize it with the child's name, age, where they live, what they want for Christmas, pictures of their family, etc.  It was really quite neat!  It then generates a five minute long video just for the child.  It's so personalized and authentic.  MJ was in awe.  He asked to watch this message over and over. 

 



MJ was such a great helper in the kitchen this year helping me make lots of Christmas goodies to bring to St. Louis!

 



That silly Dewey was always up to something at night!

 

 

We really did create lots of special memories with the kids during the first half of December!  We then headed to St. Louis to celebrate Charlotte's first birthday as well as Christmas with all of our family.  More posts to come soon...