Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas...

We spend most of Christmas Eve day with Matt's extended family. We started out the day by making sack lunches for the Salvation Army and delivering them. Then we ate lunch ourselves. Later, we had dinner (scones!) and had a little family Christmas Eve party. There was a small talent show, a reading of the Christmas story, singing, and of course present opening. It was fun to spend time with them and participate in some of their traditions. Matt's family always opened all of their presents on Christmas Eve, so to compromise we opened a few up- Sydney wasn't really in the mood because she was pretty tired, but she opened up new Christmas pajamas and a book about the first Christmas.

Our stockings hung with care...
Our tree!

Christmas Day!

This was our first Christmas that we haven't slept at either one of our parent's houses. It was weird to actually set up Christmas and to not be with family in the morning, but we all enjoyed having Christmas with our little family of 3. Because we spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family, we were going to my family's house for breakfast at 10, and had to be ready for the day when we left. So we decided to wake up early in order to get everything done that we needed to. We went in Sydney's room to wake her up at 6:30, and she was furious. Really, she just kept yelling at us (normally she sleeps till about 9). So, we got her calmed down with a bottle and got ready to go see if Santa had come. We sent Sydney walking down the hall, unsuspecting of anything different. When she walked into the family room this is what the couch looked like...


Sydney looked at the couch, looked at me, walked closer to the couch, looked at me, and finally reached out and touched one of her toys with one finger, then looked at me as if to make sure it was ok. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She really didn't know what to do! This is not the greatest picture since we don't have very good lighting in our apartment, but you can kind of see her smiling under her binky, just standing there looking at her toys...

After we opened the packaging on all of the presents Santa brought, we started opening up the presents that were from eachother, wrapped under the tree. Matt had the best Christmas he will probably ever have for the rest of our lives, because he got his much anticipated Wii.

Sydney got daddy a new book called Daddy Hugs 1-2-3 for him to read to her, and she colored him a card...


Sydney's stocking stuffers- spoons, applesauce, an orange, baby soap, and a rolo...

She loved the rolo...

Pictures of Sydney enjoying her presents! A Little People airplane & boat, a Cabbage Patch doll (which she LOVES) a stroller, and new bath toys. Grandma and Grandpa Page and family sent some puzzles, jammies, a new dress, and a few other toys. And Chris and Lisa gave her a new adorable book! Thanks for a great Christmas!


Sydney has been into pushing things around lately. Like at my family's house, she pushes around their bar stools. So now, she has a stroller to push her baby around in. She likes to walk around pushing it...

Since my mom knows how much Sydney likes to push stuff around, my family gave her this shopping cart, and a couple of cute new outfits... now she has a few new things that move a lot better than bar stools!

At the beginning of December we got our bathtub/shower redone for the 3rd time. It has been awful since we moved in (over a year and a half ago)! I have always worn flip flops in the shower, and Sydney has had to bathe in her little baby tub every day. The paint was always peeling off, so it wasn't a good idea to bathe her in the big tub, even though she had long outgrown her infant tub. Every time they re-did the tub, it seemed to get worse. With each re-do we could not use the tub or shower for a week, we had to leave the windows open because of severe fumes, in the middle of freezing cold winter, and we had to redust the entire apartment because it left paint dust all over, and even ruined some of our clothes. We threatened moving out, and giving bad references, and told management what a pain it has been. They assured us that this time, the tub would be better because they got a new company to re-do them. Putting my trust in that, we agreed to re-do the tub again. The day they were supposed to come, we prepared the apartment by putting towels under all the doors, and making sure all cracks were covered so the dust wouldn't ruin more of our stuff. We opened the windows, and I spent the day at my mom's to not have to breathe fumes all day. When we got home that night, they hadn't even done the tub! I was furious! Luckily, Matt talked me into being patient for one more day. The re-did the tub the next morning and it has been bliss! I have loved not having to wear flip flops when I shower. Sydney has LOVED her baths in the big bath tub. Which is why I am even telling this long story in my Christmas post.... she has been so excited to take baths every day that we decided to buy her new bath toys for Christmas. She loves baths even more with her new toys. When I start the water running, she runs in, giggling, and tries to get in with pajamas on and all. It has been fun to give her baths, and I am glad we finally have a decent bath tub. Now I will always be grateful to have a good bath tub! Here's Sydney on Christmas morning!


We had the Holmes Family Christmas Party on Christmas Day. It was fun to see all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It is quite the gathering, even with a lot of families out of town. Sydney wasn't intimidated by the large crowd one bit. She loved playing on the floor with Paige and Hannah, who are about 8 months older than her. It is always so fun for me to watch Sydney interact with other kids because the closest thing she gets is Allie. She is very social and always has fun with other kids and babies... Here she is with Paige, playing with a set of manger toys...

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope everyone else did too! Have a happy new year!!!