christmas...

i love christmas, i always have. every year with makenzie is just so fun. she loves all of the things leading up to christmas, the advent calendars, cookie making, decorating, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, the christmas story, the anticipation of christmas day, etc. she is so much fun. this year it was just the three of us and we had a wonderful time together.

i took on the norwood tradition of opening gifts on christmas eve after the yummy christmas dinner of brisket, potato casserole, broccoli salad, and grasshopper pie. mmmm.... the opening gifts on christmas eve takes a little getting used to but it is fun. we open all the gifts to and from our family. and then on christmas morning you wake up to santa gifts and stockings. the only thing i don't like is that santa presents are just there and unwrapped. so, we compromised and we wrapped santa presents. not the ones in the stockings, just the big ones from santa.

makenzie was so sweet about taking turns and so happy with everything she got. she made sure to know who gave her each gift. it was nice because she didn't mind setting it aside and going to the next one but she also cared about each gift. it was sweet. she had gifts for copper, penny, bobby and some of her other stuffed animals. it was sweet. :)

here's a few pictures...



copper and penny loved their new squeak toys...






makenzie colored me a picture and wrapped it up all on her own. she was so excited to give it to me, it was so cute. she also picked out a necklace for me with michael. she is a good secret keeper and loved it.


she picked out a wii game for michael's gift. she wrapped it all by herself. i went upstairs to see if she needed help and i heard her say, "daddy's presents is the prettiest". so sweet. sad, no pic of her with michael after opening it.




this video is so funny to me. she opened the gift and it's markers and a notepad. they are these cool blendy pens. well, our friend chenin gave her this huge set of crayola items. so she got some of the same markers already. i meant to take the package out from under the tree just cuz she didn't really need a million markers. so, it was like she knew she's not supposed to complain about already having it. haha. it's like she's trying to not make me feel bad "you couldn't find anything? it's ok, it's good". haha






makenzie got princess hair for dress up. we all tried it on, even copper. :)


makenzie's big present from us was an american girl. she really wanted a doll to be able to do her hair. she asked santa for the hair style book but didn't think of asking for the doll. :) then at the christmas with my family at my brothers she got a salon chair from my mom and dad for dolls. then later her and noelle played with her dolls. she said that night she really wanted a doll. it was funny, it was the first time she thought of asking for it. the video is pretty cute of her opening it. :) i'm so happy she loved it. she named her aly. :)



with aly...



christmas morning...

up EARLY and excited to come downstairs...

checking out if santa ate his cookies and milk. penny ran downstairs and finished off the crumbs. :)


opening what santa brought her...


a sewing machine!!! makenzie has been wanting to sew and make things alot recently. so we thought it would be fun to get her her own sewing machine. it is real and it works great. she was so surprised and loves it. i am not too crafty and it will take some learning with her but it will be fun...



so excited about the hair style book that she really really wanted...


also so excited that she got lulu, the fur real kitty. it's kinda creepy how it meows, purrs, sleeps. haha, it's cute and she loves it and daddy isn't allergic to it. :)




she got a playdo ice cream maker set. here is all the cute ice creams she made. of course once all the playdo mixes it won't be quite as cute. :)


a bag we made with her sewing machine...


she made this scarf with a kit that noelle, trevor and claire gave her. it was really cute. it came with yarn and she made all the little pom poms and sewed them together...