A Very Merry Christmas Indeed!

We had an amazing Christmas. We were unable to travel to Utah to see family, but we did our best to make it a great Christmas, and was it ever! We are lucky to have Tom's cousin Scott and his wife Tricia living just a half an hour away. We spent Christmas Eve at their house with two other families. We had a delicious dinner and then had a nativity program. Scott played the piano while Tom narrated the story. The kids were all dressed up in various costumes they brought or found in Sydney's dress ups. If you asked Ainsley what she was, she would tell you a "Ballerina Fairy" when in fact she was meant to be an angel. But it was really cute. We sang Christmas carols and then the kids each opened up one or two presents. Ainsley opened up pajamas from Grandma Butler and a Belle doll and blanket that Daddy had picked out. She put on her pjs and we bundled her up to go see Christmas lights. People here don't go all out on their Christmas lights like they seemed to back home in Utah, but we still managed to find a few houses. We listened to Christmas music and enjoyed being together as a family. Then we headed home for Santa to come to our house!

On Christmas morning, we got up and opened presents. This was the first year she understood what Santa was and so she was really excited. I will try to post the video of her opening presents later because some of her exclamations as she opened gifts were absolutely priceless. She would say things like, "Wow, this is what I always wanted." and "Santa made this for me, its just for me." We did have one minor Santa scare...Ainsley was with me when we bought the shopping cart at a thrift store back in November. In fact the only reason we got it was because she wouldn't put it away after a quick trip into the store to look for something. When I saw the price of a whopping $2, I decided to get it for her. I had stuck it in the trunk of our car, and then we've never talked about it again. I figured she would forget...but even little minds remember. When she looked at the shopping cart, she said, "Look Santa got this out of our car for me!" Oops, oh well. She won't remember:)

Santa brought Ainsley a set of Disney Fairy Figurines, a baby crib, a Christmas dress for Bitty Baby, a play shopping cart, the newest Tinkerbell movie, and a Disney Princess book, along with small stocking stuffers.

Daddy got a Wii this year and we have had a lot of fun playing it while Tom had the week off.

After we opened up all of the Santa gifts and gifts to one another, we had breakfast together as a family. We made a combination of traditional foods from both families including cinnamon rolls, strata, slush, and sweets. Then we got on Skype to talk to our families. We were spoiled by family! Both sides sent us huge packages of gifts. We waited to open them over skype so they could watch. It felt like we were altogether. They loved watching Ainsley open her gifts and see her expressions. She was absolutely spoiled by both families!!!! She got a whole set of Princess Barbie dolls from her aunts, a tea set, and play food set as well as clothes and books from the Reese side. From the Butler's she got several new outfits, shoes, a beautiful Paperdoll quilt, a cupcake set, stickers, and a Sunday bag with coloring books, crayon cady, and books. She was in heaven! We spent the rest of the day playing with all our new toys. That evening we went to our friends the Martinez family for dinner. They are in our ward and just live in the building next to ours. There was another family there as well. We had a wonderful dinner and were entertained by the four little girls giving us a fashion show. It was a wonderful Christmas!

Holding all of her new princess Barbies from Aunt Annie and Aunt Susie!

Ainsley lined up all of her princesses and fairies on the couch, she was spoiled! Later she watched Beauty and the Beast in our bed and Ainsley insisted that all seven princess, six Disney fairies, Bitty baby, and her Belle doll all watch the movie in bed with her. It was pretty crowded but she was extremely happy.

Having a tea party with all of her princesses on Christmas night

Decorating cupcakes with the play cupcake set Aunt Cami gave her!

My mom made this awesome quilt for Ainsley. Each quilt block is a paperdoll and on the back of the quilt there is a pocket full of clothes for each doll. Ainsley loved dressing up the dolls. It is so cute!
Modeling one of her new Christmas outfits and the "cowgirl boots" Daddy got her

One of the many tea parties we have had over the break
Ainsley and Bitty Baby wearing their Christmas dresses

What did Tom and I get for Christmas this year? A new car!!! We've only had one car since moving to Indiana two years ago. Although it has worked out great so far, Tom starts his new Bosch rotation in a couple of weeks. It is a little farther (about a 20-30 min drive) and I did not want to be stranded at home everyday or have to drive an hour to go drop off/pick up especially with a new baby coming soon. So over the break, we spent a lot of time car shopping. We picked out a 2011 Subaru Forrester and we love it!

A special thanks to our families for all they did for us! We missed being with you and spending the holiday together. We appreciate all that you did for us though and how you made our Christmas wonderful. Thank you for all of the amazing gifts, we love you so much!