We had higher expectations and excitement for Christmas this year since Lyla was getting older and slightly better able to understand that something special was going to happen. She was such a good girl - she didn't really mess with ornaments on the tree or all the colorful and bright presents under it. She did want to sit on a few of the bigger presents, but that was about it. :)
Below are some family snapshots we took in anticipation of Christmas in our Christmas attire and of course you have to take a picture of your Christmas tree! We are so proud of that tree. We spent an entire weekend looking for a tree (Dustin was very kind and agreed to buy a fake tree since that's what Ellen really wanted). We were up past Lyla's bed time at Home Depot, she had a stinky surprise waiting for us in her diaper and she was NOT happy about it, so needless to say we were in a flustered rush. The tree we really wanted was gone, but I found another similar looking box that was the same price, but no display to look at. A store associate offered to put it together for us in the store, but we didn't want to inconvenience him - we thought it would be a ton of work! In the end, we bought it hoping it would look okay. We got home and Dustin offered to get started setting up while I cleaned up some odds and ends from the day. Five minutes later, Dustin comes in and announces he's already done! Not only did the tree look AMAZING, it came in just three easy parts to assemble! Maybe I am stuck in the nineties, but I thought ALL fake tress came with many, many parts and branches that needed to each individually be attached to a base. This tree paid for itself with ease of construction - we lucked out!
Christmas morning rolled around and we woke up to a screaming baby with the worst dirty diaper she's ever had. Poor thing was getting spoiled rotten the day before with lots of treats and snacks. This ended with a horrible upset tummy and some nasty bowel movements. She was a trooper and got on her Sunday dress and went to church with us. Lyla enjoyed a day of neverending presents. Her big gift from Santa this year? A baby leather recliner. She LOVES it! Santa must have known Lyla loves making anything into a seat - the fireplace, a stack of books, a present, even another human! We opened presents from our little three-person family before church. After church and a good nap, Lyla video conference with her Grammy, Pa, and Auntie Em and we all opened presents from them. After THAT, we went over to Hank and Sherie's to open the Tillman family gifts. It was a gift-giving extravaganza. We all loved all of our gifts, but we really loved getting to talk with Ellen's parents and hang out with Dustin's family on Christmas day. It was also really cool to have Christmas on a Sunday this year. It really helped refocus the true meaning of Christmas and left me feeling so blessed for such an amazing family and another great year of memories with them.
Lyla has LOVED having her cousins here. She really adores them - she wants to follow them around and get in the mix all day long. All her cousins were so nice to her, they let her follow them, they played with her and included her even though they are all so much older than her. Lyla's oldest cousins - Bailey, Alyssa, and Katie - are over the top amazing with her. They make sure she doesn't hurt herself and play games and do things they know she'd like (like "Ring Around the Rosie" for starters). They were pretty much like her babysitters. I didn't have to worry about her at all when the girls were around. They are so sweet and Lyla won't know what to do without them!
Last year's Tillman family picture is quite infamous for a few reasons. First, we had expanded to such a big family that we no longer really all fit in a studio picture (which we didn't know until we got back the pictures and the family members on the outside were cut off!), and Dustin had this HORRIBLE mustache from when he was growing one for "Movember" last year raising money for cancer. Needless to say, we desperately needed a replacement picture (and we wanted to add in Dillon, Dustin's sister Shannon's fiance in the picture as well!). Our sister-in-law Liz and Dustin's mom, Sherie, scouted out a good location for the photo and then Dustin came and set up his camera accordingly. We used a the old tripod and camera timer trick to get these family photos. They came out so good! This was a ton of people who all needed to be smiling and looking good at the same time - and we did it! Lyla was not very pleasant and we didnt' get too many smiles, but the rest of the kids were more than cooperative!
Dustin took some great family pictures, but our sister-in-law Liz is also an amazing photographer! Last Saturday Liz and Dustin's mom took Lyla with them to the park to play with Liz's kids while we took down and put away all our Christmas decorations. These pictures are amazing! I love them so much - she makes the kids look like mini-models!
This Christmas has been so beyond amazing with everyone being here - we're already looking forward to seeing everyone in July for Shannon and Dillon's wedding!
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