Sunday, January 15, 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The weekend before Christmas we went to see Santa!  Hannah surprisingly did awesome!!  She is generally not a big fan of strangers, atleast of them holding her!  She loves talking to them and smiling and waving!!  But, she did not even bat an eye when Matt placed Hannah on Jolly St. Nick's lap.  It was very sweet and an excellent opportunity for a cute picture!


After our visit with Santa!

Decorating for Christmas is something that I LOVE to do!  I really actually need to get a few more Christmasy things to celebrate the season.  But, among other things, decorating the tree is my favorite and always has been.  I have always loved digging out the ornaments and remembering where I got them, or who gave them to me, and finding just the perfect place for each of them!  Since Matt and I got married, we have gotten our tree at Home Depot, and once again, they did not disappoint!  I would LOVE to start cutting down our own when Hannah is older to build fun memories, but for now, Home Depot is perfect.  The only thing I would have changed this year is going for the taller variety!  I had no idea just how tall our ceilings were until I got the tree in the house!  The following pictures are just a few of the things we had around the house to celebrate the season!




We went to Atlanta for Christmas this year.  On the 23rd it was a balmy 65 degrees and even warmer in direct sunlight!  It was so nice to be outside and just soak in the sun.  We celebrated Christmas with my family on the 23rd.  My sister's family, and my brother and his wife came to my parents for a delicious meal and to open presents.  It was so fun to hang out with my siblings, their spouses, and my precious nieces!  I am so glad that Hannah has such loving cousins on both sides of the family!  It is really sweet to watch them interact with her.  Abby and Caroline just love babies and are so good with Hannah.  They hold her and do a great job playing with her.  Molly Ryan also LOVES babies and absolutely adores Hannah.  She wants to hold her all the time and be right by her side all the time!

Caroline, Hannah, Abby, and Molly Ryan
Abby, Hannah, Caroline, and Molly Ryan
Caroline helping Hannah stand up!
Hanging out with Uncle Eric and Aunt Melissa
Molly Ryan, Hannah, Caroline, and Abby
Loving being held by Aunt Catherine and Molly Ryan
Hannah thinks she is a big girl playing with Molly Ryan's new toy!
On Christmas Eve, the Goforths came back over for a delicious brunch, and to hang out for a little while before they headed back to Asheville.  Then in the evening, we went to church with my parents.  It was a very nice service and Hannah did awesome!  I wasn't quite able to hold the candle for the candlelight portion because Hannah was VERY interested in it!!  We had saved our presents to eachother and to/from my parents for Christmas morning.  We woke up to see what Santa had brought for Hannah.  I think the bows and paper were her favorite part.




Then we went to church, and after church drove up to see my parent's lakehouse at Lake Lanier.  Everything was finished except for the floor.  It looked so awesome and we are so excited to spend time there this summer and for years to come!  That evening Matt and I left after Hannah went to bed and walked around the village at Stone Mountain.  It was all lit up for Christmas.  It was beautiful and fun to spend a little time alone with Matt.  We had a wonderful Christmas for sure!!!  

On the 26th, we went over to Eric and Melissa's house for dinner.  They were so sweet to have us and served awesome steaks and potatoes!  We really loved to spend time with them and see where they live.  Then on Tuesday, we ate dinner at our friends' the McClure's house.  They were two of the first people we got to know while living in Boston and back in the summer they moved to Atlanta!  It was great to see them and spend time catching up with them.  They have a little girl as well who is so precious!  She was still a baby when we left, but now is just full of so much sweet personality!  

We came back to Indianapolis for a night to unload our Christmas loot, and then headed to St. Louis.  Although I don't have any pictures to show for it, we had an awesome time!  Hannah LOVED being with all of her cousins and aunts and uncles, and see the other set of grandparents.  She was very happy the whole time we were there and let everyone play with her!  I think she really enjoyed showing off her new sitting up skills.  While we were away, she really figured out how to sit up!  She doesn't fall over now unless she means to.  She also figured out how to wave and clap!  The other development is that her 2nd tooth came in!  She now has both of her front bottom teeth!! So fun to see these new developments in her. While in St. Louis we ate delicious food at Matt's parent's house, we went bowling, and spent New Years Eve at dinner with friends and then back at Jonathan's house with him and Andrea.  We so appreciate their hospitality in letting us come take over two of their rooms!!

This is Hannah on New Years Eve....she just couldn't hang on!!!



No comments: