Evie's First Christmas!

This year turned out so much better than I'd hoped! We planned out presents in advance and saved up for the majority of them--a big change from last year. We only went over-budget by a little bit, Evie had a great haul, and I'm sitting here sipping some delicious eggnog. Life is good!

Evie's first Christmas started Friday night when we went to see Santa. The local mall across the street encouraged their customers to take their own pictures with Santa for free, which was way better than the $20 studio fee I was afraid I'd have to cough up to document this rite of passage. So we bundled up and headed over, with Evie dressed in her adorable holiday outfit, to see how Santa and Evie would get along.

Apparently several babies freak out once they're sitting on his lap, but Evie (our little social butterfly) was just fine.

Both Santa and Mrs. Claus were very taken with our little girl. They commented on how pretty, friendly, and festive she was. Of course, we puffed out our proud parent chests, smiled, and agreed.
Christmas Eve was a hectic day of working, running some errands on my lunch break, and doing some last minute shopping right after work. We ate dinner when we finally got home and then it was time to hang stockings!

Christmas Day itself had lots of ups and downs. Todd and I woke up just before 6 and went upstairs to open our presents, letting the munchkin sleep for another couple of hours. We went back to bed at about 7:30, but I woke up at 8 to the heartbreaking sound of Evie sobbing in her sleep. To cheer her up, I sent Todd upstairs to get her our present to open.

She had lots of fun pounding on the paper and pulling it off! Once we pried her away from her new toy, we took her upstairs to open all of her other presents:

This rattle was from her Uncle John. Then her girl cousins, Kim and Emily, gave Evie a toy cell phone so she can "call" people on her very own phone instead of always trying to steal Todd's phone when I'm talking to someone else.

She had a grand time playing with the cell phone while waiting to open her next present from her Uncle John and Aunt Margot, which turned out to be...a Rock-a-Stack!

Evie immediately fell in love with her new colored donuts, and it took some convincing for her to let go long enough to open another present. But she decided it was worth it when she saw what her boy cousins picked out for her. Kevin and Collin got her a brand new fuzzy little teddy bear that Evie loved snuggling.

Todd's supervisor from his old job has a four-year-old little boy who wanted to give Evie a present. He gave her a Winnie the Pooh phone that makes all kinds of fun noises. 

Santa brought Evie a boxed set of mini board books, which she immediately wanted to start reading. Of course, Todd and I are so proud of our budding bookworm!

Last of all was Evie's stocking. She finally learned how to pull things out of it, and got very enthusiastic about it!

Just for the record, her stocking included a rubber ducky, two new teething rings, a hairbrush, a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament, and a package of strawberry/apple puffs. Once Evie had opened all of her presents, we posed her in front of the tree, surrounded by all of her loot:

It's a pretty good haul for only being 9 months old!
Shortly after we brought all of her new toys downstairs, Evie spit up all over herself, our bed, and her new teddy bear. Unfortunately, that was the last of the formula we had until we can pick some more up tomorrow and it meant we need to do a load of laundry. On the plus side, though, it gave us an opportunity to try out her rubber ducky and her hairbrush! Evie thought it was extra fun when Mommy sang "Rubber Ducky" and squeezed her ducky at the squeaker parts. She even kissed him on the beak. Then she cried when it was time to get out of the tub and dry off because she had to leave her beloved ducky behind.

After Evie's bath, it was my turn to shower and get made-up (I got new make-up in my stocking!). While I played with my hair, Evie played with her colored donuts. We think that the orange one is her favorite because Todd says that she was holding the orange one in her left fist and had the others in a row next to her. Then, one by one, she would pick up another color in her right hand, compare the two, and bang them together. Then she would put down the other color and pick up another, repeating the whole ritual over again. Apparently, she did this for several minutes until I startled her by turning on my blow dryer.
Once we were all clean and polished, it was time to go to church. Since it was Christmas, we only had sacrament meeting, followed by a Merry Mingle that involved food and chatting. During the sacrament, we kept Evie quiet by feeding her puffs one at a time and then letting her read her books. She was in a pretty good mood until we went into the cultural hall for the Merry Mingle. Then she was hungry, but she wouldn't eat the food we tried to give her. She was tired, but she was too overstimulated to sleep. Eventually, her face just crumpled and tears started to fall. Honestly, I started to laugh because her heartbroken face was just so adorable that I couldn't help it. A lady in our ward stopped by to talk to her, and Evie made an admirable attempt to flirt and cry at the same time. I really wish I'd caught it on camera!
Evie cried until we finally gave up and decided it was time to head over to Todd's parents to meet up with the rest of his family. As soon as we started the car, though, she fell asleep and she stayed asleep for a couple of hours while the rest of us opened our presents. She finally woke up enough to sort of open her presents. (Sorry the video is sideways; I don't know how to fix it!)

When we finally got home (at only 6 o'clock! It was a very long day.), Evie started playing with her new toys while we called out-of-town family and friends to wish them a Merry Christmas. She enjoyed sitting on my lap and playing with her new cell phone while we talked on Todd's. Now, while I post on this blog, she's on the floor playing with her orange ring again. I know that she's too little to really remember her first Christmas, but I think that, overall, she had a pretty good day and so did we. Merry Christmas to you and yours!