Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Last weekend, we tortured Tess by putting a Santa hat on her. She looks like she's enjoying it, doesn't she? Um, yeah. Not so much. But it was damn funny. I figured that in honor of the day, I'd share a picture:

On Tuesday night, after I was finished with my baking, Michael and I took Tessa and we went for a ride to look at Christmas lights. There is a wealthy woman in our area who is known for her fantastically tacky display of lights, and it's pretty much an annual tradition to go take a gander. This year, I remembered to bring the camera so we could snap a few photos:

Yes. that's Santa in a helicopter!

Yesterday (Christmas Eve), we got up early so I could participate in a special 90-minute aerobics class with my regular instructor. She really worked us hard, so it was nice to get such a good workout in before all of the holiday eating.

After that, we ran home, ate a little breakfast, and started getting ready for the day. After showering, I got to work wrapping all of the presents (helloooo, procrastination). Before we knew it, it was time to head out the door for 2:00 mass. It's always really crowded, so we had to plan to get there by 1:30 or so. We were able to save seats for Michael's parents and sister. When it was over, we went back to Michael's parents' house to hang out with them for a bit.

Around 4:30, we left to run home to let Tessa out and do a few more things at home before heading to my cousin's house for my extended family's Christmas party. After a while, Michael left to go have Christmas Eve dinner with his family while I stayed to enjoy the time with mine. A few photos (mostly of my little cousins!):

My 17-month-old cousin, Mia. She was so good! She and Brendan are around the same age, and I couldn't believe the difference between them. Brendan is a little boy through and through--so active, getting into things, etc. Mia was content to sit and open presents, and play with her little doll for most of the night. Too cute. Naturally, most of my photos from the night ended up featuring Miss Mia.

Opening up her brand new baby doll.

More little cousins. Sisters Jada and Kiara taking a short break from coloring to smile for me.

I *love* our camera! Not as detailed here because of the resize, but in this photo, you can see every. single. eyelash, and even the fine blonde hairs on her face. Love it!

Feeding her baby. I couldn't believe how into the doll she was, considering she is still just a baby herself!

Pretty blue eyes.

Kiara (4 years old) got a new doll, too. Right after I took this picture, I asked her, "So... did you name your baby yet?" She said, "Yep!" I said, "Well, what'd you name her?" She matter-of-factly replied, "Umm... Fragile!" Hilarious.

My brother, Tyler, and his fiancee, Marie

The expectant parents: My brother, Trevor, and girlfriend Kara

Last year, my cousin's husband, Jeff, dressed up as Santa Claus to act out a "Santa sighting" in the backyard. This year, Trevor was tapped for the job.

All the kids got a huge kick out of seeing Santa walk through the backyard. He even stopped and waved, which thrilled some of the kids, and completely freaked out others. :)

Mia's all dressed for bed and getting ready to leave... but not before Aunt Lindsay makes her giggle for her "audience."

After the excitement of the Santa sighting, Michael and I left my cousin's to go back to his parents' house to open gifts with his family.

Michael's sister, Cristina.

Michael's parents. They're looking at the parents' wedding album we got them for Christmas. I designed all of the pages, and we had it printed and bound. We made one for my mom, too. I'm going to take pics of the pages and post about it (and a full review) soon. We were SO HAPPY with the quality and how everything came out.

After exchanging gifts, we were exhausted and decided it was time to head home. We went to bed knowing we had another full day of Christmas tomorrow!