A very merry Noelle

With Noelle's very first Christmas now a beautiful memory in our minds, I wanted to take the time to document all that made it special.

I don't think it was a secret that I was feeling the seasonal stress in the days leading up to December 25. We had a lot of places to be, a lot of people to see, a lot of gifts to buy, a lot of things to do, and of course not a lot of time to do any of it in. However, we put our game faces on and took deep breaths as we began our Christmas festivities with Luke's family. Noelle enjoyed opening her first presents and we enjoyed hanging with family. Really nothing can beat just laying around in your sweats and lazily addressing the day's order of events. We ate great food and relaxed and played and watched the loved ones around us.

When actual Christmas came around, we attended Christmas Eve Mass at St. Simon...us with about 4,000 other people. Wow. I have never seen a Christmas Eve Mass this huge. I also have never seen such outfits at church. High heels, lace tights and leggings, short mini skirts...whoa. My royal blue sweater and jeans looked a little frumpy in comparison.

After mass, my parents and brother joined us at our house. For the first time in all of my Christmases, we did not spend the night at my mom and dad's house. This was strange yet nice at the same time. I felt like a true adult, whether that is a good thing or not. We watched Elf and ate yummy food and tucked Noelle in bed for her to have visions of sugar plums dancing in her head. She left a plate of cookies for Santa and wrote a note asking for Peyton Manning to be under her tree.

When she finally fell asleep that night, we tiptoed into the guest room and pulled her pile of Santa presents out to place under the tree. We hung the stocking with goodies inside. We shook our heads in disbelief as we were finally playing the part of Santa for our sweet baby girl. We gave her one last kiss and went to sleep. I could barely sleep because I was so excited for the morning. I watched House Hunters International until I couldn't bear to see one more rich Costa Rican 30 year old buy a summer home at the beach.

On Christmas morning, we were the ones waking Noelle up, excitedly singing her "good morning" song and willing her to wipe the sleep from her eyes so we could open presents. She was very confused and seemingly annoyed with our excitement. I think she would have slept a little later! We gave her a great Christmas breakfast and then encouraged her to tear the paper off the boxes. She wasn't too into it, but once we showed her what she could play with, I think she started to figure out that Christmas was a cool thing! My favorite gift we got her was a Fisher-Price shopping cart that makes noises. She even will push it and take a few steps with it. :-) I also got her a sweet little baby doll named Baby Stella.

When we were finished with our own Christmas, we headed to Muncie to share in the joy with my mom and dad and brother. We opened presents until the afternoon, taking our time, eating breakfast, and allowing Noelle to soak it all in! We had a great time and relished not having to be anywhere or do anything but just exist that day.

My mom and dad did WAY to much for us, as always, and we are still trying to find a place to put everything. Noelle is such a loved little girl-- so blessed in so many ways. I know that many children all over were not given the Christmas that Noelle received at only 9 months old. And, of course we know that Christmas is not about gifts. Christmas is about family, and faith, and love, and hope, and magic, and Jesus's love for all of us.

Christmas doesn't suck. ;-)