Merry Christmas!!

This Christmas morning was unlike any other Christmas that Chris and I have ever had. Sure there were some similarities to all the past years:

1) We woke up early in anticipation of opening presents
2) We ventured downstairs together to find our stockings filled by Santa
3) We opened our gifts one by one, oooo-ing and aaaaa-ing over each other's surprises
4) We ate some breakfast
5) We sat in the living room and enjoyed our presents
6) We talked with our parents and other family and friends
7) We went for a walk
8) We took a nap
9) We baked Christmas cookies
10) Most of all, we enjoyed spending lots of quality time together.

So how was this year any different, you may ask?? Well take a look:

1) We woke up early in anticipation of opening presents. This year, our 6:30am wake up call came from a tiny voice over the baby monitor. So I gathered her up from her crib and brought her to our room for a few early morning snuggles and a bottle.


2) We ventured downstairs together to find our stockings filled by Santa. I carried little Rylie downstairs, sat her down in the family room and oooo-ed and aaaa-ed at the stockings that were set by the fireplace as we started the fire, turned on the Christmas tree lights and opened the curtains to let some light in. She was mesmerized by her stocking!

3) We opened our gifts one by one, ooo-ing and aaaa-ing over each other's surprises. We sat with Rylie and helped her open all her presents. Of course, she had to taste EVERYTHING! She liked the wrapping paper the best :-)

4) We ate some breakfast. After opening presents, we gave Rylie her favorite: cinnamon apples and oatmeal cereal. By then, it was time for her nap so we put her to bed (gosh, opening presents takes a lot out of a kid pretty quickly!). We (Chris) then made fried eggs and a Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring for us to enjoy...yum!!

5) We sat in the living room and enjoyed our presents. We opened all of Rylie's toys, assembled all the parts, inserted batteries, and away they went making loud noises and amusing the baby!

6) We talked with our parents and other family and friends. Since we were here at our house for the first time this year, we texted, e-mailed, facebooked, and FaceTimed with family and friends. Everyone was eager to with Rylie a Merry 1st Christmas (Oh, and a Merry Christmas to us, too)!


7) We went for a walk. Yes, we are still here in Chicagoland and were able to go for a walk this Christmas, with a stroller! No snow on the ground, as it has been about 45 degrees all week and sunny! Can't complain there...if Rylie wasn't going to have a WHITE Christmas this year, then I'll take the sunshine!

8) We took a nap. Instead of crashing on the couch after eating a huge Christmas meal (we didn't make one for just us this year), we all jumped in to bed after our walk to settle down for a nap. Rylie jabbered on for about 45 minutes (love her babbles!) before falling asleep and Chris read for a while, but then we all got to take a 2 hour nap together. Even the cat, Mouse, joined in... bliss!!


9) We baked Christmas cookies. Instead of making traditional sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies to decorate, I made Chris these Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies. Next year we will bring back the cookie decorating - bring on the mess with a toddler!!

10) Most of all, we enjoyed spending quality time together. It was great enough to have Chris home for two days and for us to spend it together, not having to run errands or do stuff around the house. It was even better that we had Rylie here with us this year to snuggle with and share in the joy of Christmas. We realize this will probably be our easiest Christmas for the next few years (a sitting infant who is not able to move very far vs. a very mobile and curious toddler!). This was just a taste for us of what is to come in the future of Christmas at the Chalko's :-)