baby's 1st christmas

just a sidenote before i begin: last year my holiday post was also titled "baby's 1st christmas". & it was. just a different baby. haha.

this is the first year we got to have our own little christmas morning in our own little apartment with our own little family. it was a little awesome. :)

& yes that one picture is of elle dancing around with the orange from the toe of her stocking & singing 'urnge, urnge, urnge!'

we then ran on over to my parents house to play & open gifts. faves: 2010 giant shirts for the whole fam & a nice, framed copy of 3 of my dad's oil paintings i grew up admiring & jeopardy on the wii. :)

everyone but my oldest brother was there so it was VERY chaotic, loud, & fun with our 5 under 5 kids & food & toys & singing galore.


it was a pretty swell christmas day overall.

shepherd's dinner

on christmas eve we have a dinner like the shepherd's would have eaten when they were told of the birth of christ. it's a purposefully simple family tradition that means a lot to our hodgman side. on the floor, no plates, "ancient bethlehem's brown bag lunch" theme. (ritz crackers, etc have been added to the more authentic items so that austin has something to eat- haha) this year shepherd's dinner was cossette's very first anything dinner, having solid food for the first time! she's really bad at eating her rice cereal. like, really.

we then read a few verses from the bible, a modern cmas story (or 4), get pj's from the eve elf, & watch it's a wonderful life. it was a low key nice evening.

jolly old st. nicholas

santy himself came to our complex & i swear he was the real deal!

cossette may have been the most demure of the kids to sit on his lap.

her outfit kills me & i was so happy with this picture.

okay but to get the full effect, it helps to see the FULL picture...

i think it makes me even happier than the revised version.

nutcracker

there are a billion and one reasons i wanted kids. & a few why i wanted girls.

ie. using french names, lavendar baths, blessing gowns, baking with me, & taking them to the nutcracker ballet.

this year my mama planned on taking all the little girlies to the san jose matinee. lena got a bug & cossette's a bit young but lexy & ellery & i were excited to go! i even let elles hold my president lincoln nutcracker before we went to try & get her stirred up & ready. while i've been to this ballet more times than i could count, i was beyond thrilled to take my daughter.

even if she was not beyond thrilled after intermission, it was so fun for me. & gramvi bought her her own little nutcracker christmas tree ornament to remember it.

we'll try again in a couple years when elle will love it & cossette will only make it through the first half :)

i have to mention that afterwards we went to this fantastic 'florist patesserie cafe' near the performing arts center called flower flour that was one of the most charming shops ever with some crazy fancy & tasty treats. lexy kept asking me why i was taking pictures of the place until we pointed out the teacup & saucer clock that she thought was pretty awesome. haha.

oh & yes, we'll talk christmas dresses soon.

the tomato/onion theory

it's pretty simple. i happily eat the tomatoes he hates & he gladly gobbles onions, the world's nastiest creation, for me.

it's the theory that where he lacks, i excel; & in the many arenas i struggle, he steps up. to you it might be the olive/peppers theory but it works the same. made for each other to take off our plates what we just can't do alone.

we had our anniversary recently {YAY} & while we're not big on such celebrations i did get him a fitting card: "life's a rollercoaster ... & you're my dramamine."

bottom line: i'm pretty sure i like him for more than unloading my onions on.