First of all….MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Friday night, we had our first Christmas celebration. We had my mom, step-dad, my brothers and my brother’s fiancé. This year we decided that we wouldn’t get gifts for the adults. My mom didn’t really follow the rule, but we were all very happy! 
Here’s what our tree looked like with all the presents under it!
Wow, right?!
Before everyone got there, I decided to make some sugar cookies. I am not sure how I fit this in that day, but I did. And I am glad I made them because they were tasty! They weren’t the prettiest cookies I have ever made, but I don’t think anyone noticed!
We decided to just order pizza and have a low-key Christmas. It was perfect. Before Chuck went to pick up the pizza, we had Maddie open some presents! My mom took a lot more pictures than I did and I am sure I will get them from her at some point. But here are some of the ones from my camera.
Here is Maddie in my brother’s hat.
Maddie with her first present. (Which was a “Sing-A-Ma-Jig” from Uncle Adam.) She did great after all the practice she had last weekend.
“Uncle Charlie” gave Maddie a drum set with other musical instruments shaped like bugs! So adorable! It has been a huge hit with her, both last night and all day today! And on the floor, is the purple “Sing-A-Ma-Jig” from Uncle Adam. She was so fascinated by it! It was adorable.
My mom got her a baby stroller and baby from a church garage sale (I am all for buying used toys!) and Maddie loved it. She was pushing it all over the place even though the stroller was a little too tall for her.
And then I told Maddie to “kiss her baby”…. and she did it!!! Right on cue and looked at the camera! Too funny!
My mom got Maddie a chair from Pottery Barn Kids. She wasn’t real interested in it when she opened it, but she played with it all through the next day. She climbed on it, lounged on it, stood on it….she loved it!
My mom gave her lots of great gifts, as did my siblings (and future sister)! Here is a picture of all the gifts she got (and a few Chuck and I got, too).
See the book shelf with all the books on it? Well, my mom made that. On the sides she engraved and painted Maddie’s name on it. So there will be no changing the spelling of Maddie’s name since my mom worked so hard on the shelf. Some one had to make the decision for me!
Last night we went to my step-dad’s family’s house to celebrate Christmas #2 with all of them and had a great time seeing everyone. We don’t get to see them very often since we are usually out of town for the holidays. They were all really happy to see Maddie….and us!
There’s more celebrations to come! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday so far!
