Our first order of business was to take R with us to North Pole City to pick out an ornament. Jordan and I have done this every year we've been married, and it was fun to add R to our family outing! North Pole City is a store that basically looks like Christmas threw up inside. It has lights everywhere and tons of ornaments and trees and even a train and Santa!
I know it was R's first Christmas, so supposedly it's magical to see this holiday through the eyes of a child, but let's be honest: she was four months old. She wasn't even old enough to care about ripping off wrapping paper or playing in boxes, which is why Jordan and I didn't get her anything. SHAME. I know, I know. But come on. I have been buying her hair bows and random outfits for months now. No need to spend hundreds on toys for her for Christmas. We figured we'd let the grandparents and aunts/uncles handle that, and they were more than up to the task!
We spent Christmas Eve and Day with Jordan's side, and then we drove to Texas and spent the weekend with my family. It was fun! Jordan and I both have three siblings each, and R is the first grandchild, so she is the hit of every family gathering.
It was the absolute craziest weather in Texas... On Saturday we were all sweating in t-shirts and shorts, and my dad almost turned the air conditioner on. Sunday, we woke up freezing and built a fire, and R put her new hat and matching mittens to use! Babies in hats might be my new favorite thing... even if it means she can't wear her hair bows.
^^^ R got this mirror from Jordan's mom, and we think she likes it. It's perfect for tummy time, because she loves looking at herself! She also got some bath letters and a yellow bath duck, some clothes, and a walker and a bouncy seat (both for when she's a bit older). All in all, I'm really pleased with what she got for Christmas. Everyone did a great job getting her useful, functional items but not going overboard.
As always, I had a ton of fun with my family. I grew up going to downtown Chicago every Christmas Eve. As long as I can remember, we've driven downtown and gone to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant. We were sad when we moved to Texas because we thought that tradition was dead, but we discovered that restaurant in Dallas, so Christmas Eve dinner lives on! We get it to go and eat at home, and it's such a fun time sitting around the dinner table together. And we can't forget the token Christmas photo where everyone grabs a gift or two and acts crazy. It's fun to look back at old pictures and see what the hot gift was that year!
I'm holding the newest Pioneer Woman cookbook, Dinnertime. I've already made a few meals out of it! I love PW cookbooks and can always find something delicious. Speaking of cooking, after everyone left the Sunday after Christmas, R and I stayed for a few days (Jordan drove home alone), and on Monday my mom and I spent all day cooking freezer meals.
I am really proud of us! We spent $150 total and made 24 meals (12 for each of us). That's $6.25 per meal! We made: Crockpot taco soup / Crockpot beef stew / Individual chicken pot pies / Chopped bags of cooked chicken / 140 meatballs / Parmesan chicken. It's nice to have a buffer now that I'm back at work!
So that was Christmas! It was a really fun time, and even though R wasn't technically old enough to really do anything, it was a special first Christmas with her. I love my little family!
Merry Christmas sweet R! I got the pioneer woman cookbook for Christmas this year and made beef and snow peas last week. So good... love her recipes!
So fun that you got to add her in to a tradition you both already had. I'm so excited to do that next year!
It sounds like you had a terrific Christmas and did it just right with a baby who has no idea what's going on! (Also, love that she is flipping off the camera in the photo with you and her with the hat.) We also have the first (and so far only) kids in the family so they are spoiled rotten but everyone loves them so much they can't help it, so what can you do?
awww what a fun christmas! i love that photo of your family and the presents, hilarious. i like that you were logical about the fact that she was 4 months old, one of KC's relatives had a newborn baby one christmas and was trying to get the baby to open presents. like... what?
i love the gift picture where everyone is acting crazy! i'll have to remember that for next year! :)
also, we were sweating it out on Christmas in SC too! crazy weather this year!
Their first Christmas is always special! Emily was only 5 months old for her first Christmas, so i was very similar. I actually have a picture of her chewing on one of the boxes that her present came in. Clearly the box was way more exciting! Ha!
Such fun!
Ava was very interested in watching others open their gifts - and hers. :) She took all the activity very seriously. Think how fun next year will be! We'll have babies trying to climb trees and rearrange ornaments. Ha!
Thank you for granting my request for more baby photos in this post. I love her face in the family photo; "What kind of family was I born into?"You guys look like you are always having fun!
I'm heading to Texas next month (Austin, Dallas, and Houston - yup, hitting up all the majors). Let me know if you have any recommendations.
Super smart not to buy the little one anything this Christmas. Family always seems willing to spoil. You can leave the dropping major dough for when she's old enough to remember it. lol.
Those first Christmas events with the baby are the best.
The family group picture is FANTASTIC! You all are fun :)
Of course she's going to look at that baby in the mirror - thats one cute baby :)
Oh my gosh. That family photo is just perfection. I love the idea of holding up some things you got too and making it goofy. So much fun! Oh and your sweet girl in a pom pom hat? Too cute! And I'm glad I'm not the only one just blogging about Christmas. Oops. Haha.
P.S. I cooked out of PW's new cookbook over the holidays too!! She's the best!
We're celebrating Christmas this coming weekend with my family so I'm still totally in the Christmas mood! So reading this post was perfect today! :) Looks like you guys had a great Christmas! I love that you took a photo of all of you holding a favorite gift. What a fun idea!
She's so beautiful!!! I really want that PW cookbook, but I forgot about it when Christmas came around and people asked. #MomBrain
Your family photo is epic. You could almost think you celebrated Christmas in Australia by the look of your clothes. Such weird weather this winter.
R is so CUTE. Baby hats are so CUTE.
Sounds like a perfect first Christmas! She is such a cutie! I do a lot of freezer meals, but I never do several different meals at once like this. It would be so nice to have all that knocked out in one afternoon.
You can blog about Christmas all year long with a cute subject like R!:)
Talk to me about individual chicken pot pies - We have a second fridge/freezer right now, so I have been making two of things (like lasagna, etc) when I can to get some freezer meals stocked up. I have recipes for crock pot stuff but not pot pies!!
I still haven't blogged about Christmas, so you're ahead of me! Looks like you had a fabulous time with both families.
you blog about what ever your want to blog about! ;) i still haven't blogged about christmas yet this year hahahaha
also, R is precious, seriously, and girl your meal planning and cooking and freezing - WILL YOU PLEASE TEACH ME YOUR WAYS?!
i'm so glad y'all had such a lovely Christmas season...keep making those memories!
Beautiful Christmas!!!! And YAY for freezer meals! You are really good at planning ahead and getting good deals on food. That's most of a month's worth of dinners, if you count in leftovers.
Now...Your family pictures are always my favorite!!! Everyone has their own spunk and it photographs sooo well!
PW's cooking isn't really our style (too meat-heavy) but I love her cookbooks and am on the library waiting list for Dinnertime. She does the best job with photography and layout and weaving stories into the books.
Love the update and it's never too late to talk about Christmas! I am still listening to Christmas music!
I love the picture of your family. It's clear that you know how to HAVE FUN!
We got the idea out of the Pioneer Woman Dinnertime cookbook. Basically we just used her recipe for homemade chicken pot pie, but then we poured the filling into individual pie pans, using the Pillsbury store-bought crusts. If you use one and roll it out a little thinner, it can make a top and a bottom crust for the pie! Then just "flash freeze" so they harden up a bit (in the freezer uncovered for 30 min or so), and then we wrapped the entire thing with tinfoil and put them in the freezer. You can buy individual foil pie pans at the store! I haven't tried mine yet, but my mom tried hers and said they were amazing.
Maybe I should do a post about freezer meals? I'll think about it! :)
Jordan says that a meal without meat isn't a "real" meal, so.... ;)
That family Christmas picture with presents is awesome! What a cool tradition. How did I not know about this tradition of yours before? Is that creepy?
Awesome job on the freezer cooking! My version of freezer cooking is having Angel pre-cut and package a bunch of kilos worth of chicken breasts into either big bags (for, say, fried chicken or black pepper chicken or chicken chili) or small bags (fried rice or fried bee hoon or my chicken "alfredo" cauliflower pasta sauce) and even just that makes daily cooking so easy. Just dump the bag into whatever my concoction for the day is.
Um, of course you can blog about Christmas. Especially when you have cute baby pics :) Sounds like such a great time! Your family is so fun. Love that idea, because for some reason by the time next Christmas rolls around, I can hardly remember what I got the last one. That Pioneer Woman cookbook sounds SO AMAZING. I totally need that in my life. Why are dinners so expensive? Plus I usually end up making at least 2 trips to the store a week to get everything I need.
All of those freezer meals sound like an amazing idea! I really need to do that sometime! I'm jealous of your trip to the Christmas store. We usually go to a similar place and get an ornament and I was really looking forward to it with the little one but we never had time to go! Waaah! I felt the same as you about gifts when they are so little. We got Remington 3. Such bad parents we are ;)
I CAN'T EVEN WITH THE DIMPLES ON HER KNUCKLES.
is that how you spell knuckles? it looks wrong.
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