Christmas and Birthday.....2011

The last few days have been busy ones at our house. Kyra turned one on Friday and I didn't want her to think that we didn't have a birthday party for her so I decided to have a small one on Christmas Eve. I feel bad that Kyra's birthday is so close to Christmas and I hope she has her own special day(s) every year. We had a Christmas Eve party with Devin's family and thought we would open presents and have a cake for her. Making a cake in the middle of the holiday baking was challenging-but I think it turned out pretty cute.

Kyra wasn't sure what she was supposed to do when I set her in the highchair with a cake on the tray. It was too cute-she just stared at me until I gave her a little taste. After that first taste it was all over. She stuck her face in the cake and couldn't get enough of it.

Of course I had to get a picture of her in the sink after eating the cake. The water turned pink she had so much on her. The presents were a hit as well. I had to help her quite a bit-but she loved her gifts.

I took a few photos of the decorations before the craziness of the party and gifts opening.

Christmas Eve was fun. We enjoyed a lot of good food and treats. We also had a special visit from Santa. The look on Tristan's face when Santa came down the stairs was priceless. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that thanks to my batteries being dead in the camera. Tristan sat on his lap and couldn't believe he was at our house! Kyra was terrified and wouldn't let go of her cousin Hayden. When Santa left-Tristan wanted everyone to leave so he could go to bed and Santa would stop by again.

This year we had a special guest at our house during the month of December. A lot of families have an "Elf on the Shelf" which I think is cute-but I wanted to do something different. Tinsel the Magical Reindeer arrived at our home while we were gone and he had a note attached. The note explained who he was and that he reports to Santa every day. He also likes to hide and spy on the kids so every morning Tristan has to find him. Tristan loved Tinsel and was excited every morning to hunt for him in his secret hiding spots. (tree, lamps, stockings, refrigerator, cupboards, etc) When Santa stopped by he took Tinsel with him. Tristan was sad until we told him that he would come back again next Christmas. On Christmas morning-there was a note on Santa's plate from Santa telling the kids that Tinsel left them special gifts---a pooping Santa,a pooping reindeer, and a pooping snowman.

Christmas morning was nice-the kids didn't wake us up until 9:15am!!! I know-I was shocked too. We opened gifts and had a nice relaxing morning. That evening we traveled to Idaho Falls to enjoy dinner with Devin's family and open gifts.

Kyra LOVES her new baby doll. She is such a sweet mommy.

The kids are modeling their new Christmas Eve pajamas. This was a new tradition I wanted to start this year and I almost forgot. I had to get the kids out of bed for us to open our pajama gifts.

Overall-we had a great Christmas and I get a little sad when it's "over". I wish the Christmas spirit stayed throughout the year....minus the stress and crowds. :-)