Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones.  Ours was amazing, and it has been so much fun to experience the magic of Christmas through the eyes of Leah.

On the 24th, we celebrated with my family in Orange County. The minute Leah saw her cousins, she was pretty much in heaven. She kept giving them hugs and kisses and followed them all around the house. The older cousins are so good with her. 

After everyone arrived, we ate dinner which always stars my dad's famous prime rib. I'm craving left overs as I type this. Then we had a grab bag/white elephant gift distribution which looks like the start of a new tradition. My uncle always brings a TON of assorted items from work {a sporting goods retailer} such as golf items, sunglasses, swim gear, exercise equipment, flash lights, and other knick knacks. Each family has a number, and we just go down family by family and choose an item. The little ones really get into this. I'm also realizing I need to do a better job of taking photos of these events.  

Leah was starting to get super tired by this point, so we quickly took some family photos and started to open gifts.  Once I get a hold of the big group shot, I'll post it. We knew it would take forever to go through all the gifts, so I let her open one gift, then let her explore all the other toys people got. She didn't really get the idea of opening presents, but she definitely gets the idea of new toys.  She pointed, shook, and dragged around any toy around her. We left shortly after opening gifts, and stayed over at my parents' house that night since we were headed to San Diego Christmas day. 

This morning, we woke up and Santa arrived! ;) Since I've never missed a Christmas morning at my parents' house, my mom still packs a stocking for me. She also has one for Matt and Leah. It's one of my favorite Christmas morning traditions. We opened our stocking gifts, and then let Leah open the rest of her presents. 

Afterwards, we packed up and headed to San Diego to spend Christmas with Matt's family. Matt's mom recently moved to a house on the same street as his brother! We toured the new house, then walked over to his brother's to meet up with everyone else. We opened more presents and ate lunch from Bucca Di Beppo. Leah has had a jam packed 2 days, but she loved every second of it. She was so playful with everyone, and even when she was tired, she powered through it and wanted to keep playing! With all these tragic events occurring in our world, this Christmas was extra special. To be able celebrate the birth of Jesus with our families is truly a blessing.

Merry Christmas!