It Was a Wonderful Christmas!

We had Christmas at Rick and Pam's on Christmas Eve this year.  It was so nice to spread our Christmases with our families out a bit, so it didn't feel so overwhelming all at once.  We listened as Rick read the Christmas story from one of the girls' books and then opened presents.  Ansley wanted Pappaw to read faster and Brynn wanted to play with his hair.  It was pretty humorous! 

Ansley was such a great help passing out all the presents this year.  However, she had a hard time waiting to open them all.  She wanted to open them for everyone!  After mounds of Christmas paper was shed, we had delicious steaks and bacon wrapped asparagus.  My favorite was the shrimp...none of us could stay out of it.  It was oh so good!  After our meal we lounged around and played with our new IPAD's!!! Yay!  We were absolutely shocked to get these.  Ansley and Brynn took naps and then we headed to our Christmas Eve service.  It was such a wonderful day!

Reading the story of Christ's birth

Then on to the presents! This was quite a big load for such a little girl!

This was her stack of presents.  Whoa. 

Starting to unwrap the first one.... 

A Bitty Baby wrap from Uncle Kyle!  She loved it! 

Showing off her baby carrier and yes, my child has on a watermelon skirt.  It's kinda funny how it all went down.  She is ALL about tutus these days and INSISTED upon wearing a pink tutu in her closet, but I told her it didn't match the red shirt she had on.  I explained that we didn't have a red tutu to put on and THAT'S when the little turkey pulled out her watermelon tutu. "Mommy, dis is wed (red)". Well, it sure is :/....now how can you argue with that?!  Jason's comment to me..."So you rewarded her for getting her colors right? I'm confused." 

So there you have it...she's wearing her red and green watermelon tutu on Christmas and looking as cute as ever.  Nice.

Christmas morning we celebrated with just the 3 of us (well technically 4 of us ;) ). We listened to the Christmas story with our Word of Promise audio bible and then reiterated with Ansley what ALL of the celebration with presents was really about.  She received 3 presents from us and because we only do 3, I really tried to pick things she really might want.  She got a Belle doll and matching dress (she just recently saw Beauty and the Beast at the Fox with Pamaw and Pappaw), a Bitty Baby changing table (she somehow immediately knew what it was), and a Disney princess tote with a blow dryer, hair brush, curling iron, and straightener in it (she loves to blow dry and brush my hair!).  Santa also visited our house and filled her stocking with new pj's and some DVDs.  She was in love with it all!  Then she realized there was one more gift to open from the Mayhew clan.  When she opened it her eyes LIT up!  It was a baby kitten in a carrier with all kinds of supplies to care for the sick little thing.  Like I told my friend Heather, she mothered that little kitty to death!  It's really unfortunate that Ansley will never have an indoor animal, especially a cat (I'm deathly allergic).  She would be the best help when caring for it.  Heather must have known that Ansley would never have the joy of having a REAL kitten! Ha!  

 Ansley with her new Belle and fancy matching dress on!

Love these 2! 

Ansley and I 

So excited about what Santa brought her! 

Ansley loving on her kitty 

So precious!!!! 

It was an overwhelmingly GREAT Christmas. One we will always cherish. Ansley was sooo fun to watch as she learned about the story of Jesus, sang her beautiful Christmas songs, and also as she tore open each and every present with sheer excitement. She is such a joy and we can't wait until next Christmas when our newest addition will be here to join in on all the fun! So thankful to the Lord for our many blessings!