A Christmas to Remember

It was E and C's first Christmas, and one that I will always hold in my heart.  Yes, there was lots of sickness, and some sadness, but it was also magical to share it with my parents and watch E and C experience Christmas for the first time.  Here are some of my favorite moments from Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve we wanted to take pictures of the girls in their dresses in front of the tree, so we let them play with the presents.

Here we are right before we went to Christmas Eve service at our church.  My mom made the girls' Christmas dresses.

Emma was so close to crawling that I told her if she started she could open a present early.  It wasn't enough motivation, but she sure tried.

They both really wanted the bow on that present.

Everyone was in good spirits as we got ready to go.

Christmas morning we all took turns opening stockings.  E and C went first.

It didn't take E long to figure out how to reach in and pull out what was inside.

Then we had breakfast.  The girls were ready and seemed to pick up on the excitement of the day.

Our breakfast table.

We had a country ham for Chrismas dinner.  Let me tell you, that was an experience.  It took two days to soak in water, changing the water every few hours.  Then it cooked for 5 hours in the oven in a bath of Dr. Pepper.  Then we had to cut all of the skin and fat off and carve it.  The end result was very tasty but I don't know if we will attempt one again any time soon.

The first present the girls opened.  They loved ripping the paper and were more interested in that then what was inside.  Christmas was pretty overwhelming for them and after a couple of presents they needed a break.

A neighbor gave the girls each a sock monkey.  C immediately hugged on it.

E helped her dad open one of his presents.  That paper was so fun!

We gave the girls a Zany Zoo bead maze as their present.  Here they are just after opening it.  It is a hit!

Our Christmas dinner table.  A great ending to a great day.