Christmas 2012

Christmas morning was absolutely perfect!  I wish I could say that it lived up to all my expectations, but it far exceeded them!  I cannot begin to describe how much amazement, joy, and love felt... it was such an unbelievable experience, and I'm so thankful to be a parent and have these memories.

We *hoped* Hannah would sleep in a little bit, but she must have known that today was a special day, so she was up around 7:00am.  John lit a fire before we let Hannah out of our bedroom.  John also grabbed the video camera to capture Hannah's expression when she saw the tree and gifts.  She came running out of our room and the first thing she saw was the fire roaring.  I think she was so impressed with the flames that she seemed to miss the gifts set up under the tree.  Once we pulled her away from the fireplace, she admired her toys.  It was pretty cute seeing her check out the new toys.  She wasn't quite sure if she could play with them and ran to her old toys.

John made us a delicious breakfast and I served some tasty mimosas!  (a new tradition we decided)  We were able to skype with my parents and they saw Hannah open the gifts they had sent out here for her to open.  Technology is such an amazing thing!  I'm so glad my parents could experience their grandchild open her Christmas presents.  It doesn't make it any easier to be away from them for the holidays, but it is a wonderful alternative.

After a visit from Grandpa, Uncle Paul, and Aunt Cassie to our house in the morning and some much needed naps in the afternoon, we headed over to John's parents for dinner.  Dinner was an Italian meal consisting of lasagna and prime rib, all the food was delicious.  Hannah opened her gifts from her grandparents and uncle and aunt.  You could tell Hannah was overwhelmed at this point, but she was a trooper and had a good time opening her gifts.

What a wonderful Christmas indeed!  I'm excited for more unforgettable memories in the years to come!


  
                   a winter wonderland!                                                              checking out her new toys                                     *best gift ever*
 
                          lots to play with                                                                        Christmas kisses <3
 
                                                                            having fun opening her presents
 
                    "I can do this on my own"                                                              loving her Minnie book
  
                                                                               Helping daddy open his gifts
 
                                                                          Skype with MomMom and Poppy
 
     Love my princess castle from MeMom and PopPop                       trying to drink Mommy's mimosa!
 
                 Hanging with Duncan                                                      
 
                                                                 Opening presents at Grandpa and Grandma's
  
                                                       

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is full of many traditions with the LaMacchia family.  We started out by heading to lunch at Kewpee's with most of the extended family.  They have some pretty darn good burgers if I must say!  It's always a good time laughing with the family.

We went to Christmas Eve mass at 4:30pm.  It was PACKED!  Thankfully we found one seat so we could take turns holding/passing our busy girl back and forth.  We stood with Sarah, Anthony, and Kathleen as well.  They helped read books to Hannah to keep her busy.  There were so many young children during this mass, so many little girls dressed in their red plaid.  It was so adorable!  The mass was beautiful and the message very meaningful.  It is hard not to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but remembering the true meaning of Christmas, Christ's birth should never be forgotten.  

After church, we went home to feed Hannah dinner quick before heading over to Aunt Virginia's for her party.  This is John's great Aunt, he has been going over to her house for many years!  This is a fun tradition because we get to see more extended family and all the kids that go along with those families.  Hannah had fun coloring with Gianna, following Dominic around, and seeing the dogs that are there.  Santa even made a surprise visit, and much to our surprise, Hannah was pretty excited to see him.  When he called her name to give her a gift, Hannah's face lit up!  She must have been shocked that Santa knew her name.  But still no luck getting a picture on his lap, there is always next year!

We came home to get ready for bed.  John lit a fire in the fireplace and we helped Hannah put out a cookie and milk for Santa.  Hannah helped herself to a little nibble of the cookie, then put the rest on the plate.  She is such a funny kiddo!

We settled on the couch where John read Twas the Night Before Christmas to Hannah.  Last year she had absolutely no idea what was going on (being 3 months old), but this year was neat because she was pointing to the pictures in the book and making animal sounds.  It was such a special moment that we all shared.  This is a tradition that John is carrying on from his dad who used to read to his kids as they were growing up.  Now that we have a family and a child of our own, we are able to do this with our children for years to come!

Hannah went right to bed, hardly a peep out of her, as she was probably exhausted from day one of the holiday festivities.  "Santa and Mrs. Clause" came to our house to finish getting gifts ready for the big reveal.  We wrapped last minute gifts from us, and set things up under the tree to be ready for Christmas morning.  Early to bed for us, as Christmas day will be such an exciting time!!

 
                       my beautiful family <3                                                                          our little angel
 
putting the last gift up on the advent calendar                 sitting with Rudolph

 
                                                      Checking out the fire with daddy
  
    just taste-testing for Santa                          
 
        reading Twas the Night Before Christmas                      all ready for Christmas morning 

LaMacchia Christmas/Birthday Party

We celebrated the annual Christmas/birthday celebration at Bob and Julie's house.  What a fun time getting together to enjoy some food and family.  It is nice to see everyone before the craziness of the holiday sets in. Once again, what a fun time had by all!

 
  Checking out the Christmas Village                        Favorite Aunt Sarah
 
         going in for the Santa kiss                                                                   Santa, I know him!!
 
               Opening a gift                                                              my love
 
                      my family                                                  the LaMacchia clan

Christmas Photos 2012

Here are our absolutely fabulous family Christmas pictures!!  Cheryl (Express Yourself Photography) did a wonderful job capturing our family and little lady in our holiday fancies!  She is so easy to work with and does a great job!

                                                             
  
                                                             
                          Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  We hope you enjoy the magic of the season!

My Birthday

Today is my 31st birthday.  Birthdays get just a little bit harder with each year of getting older.  This year was no different.  Every year around this time, I get a little down.  It's no surprise that being away from your family and loved ones is hard, but for some reason, around my birthday and the approaching Christmas holiday, it makes this time so much harder.  John does a wonderful job of making my birthday special, and I am so very thankful for him and that he understands this is a very hard time for me.  Even if I don't seem completely thrilled or overwhelmed with happiness at the time, I know that he knows I am appreciative of what he does to celebrate my birthday.

Having a birthday so close to Christmas has always been a challenge.  I have always felt that my birthday should be separate from Christmas, I should have my gifts separate, my own small celebration.  I have never liked having 'combined' birthday and Christmas gifts.  I never thought it was fair because that is not the case with other birthdays, so why should mine be any different.  Once again, thankfully John has gotten the memo, and he does a great job of keeping the two separate...with the exception of this year.  I will cut him some major slack because this gift simply ROCKS!  I have been bugging, asking, hinting at, looking up various models online, etc.  John got me a new camera, a fancy camera, one with detachable lenses, lots of buttons, lots of features, a beginner camera to learn to take better pictures.  I'm super excited to learn how to use it and hopefully take some wonderful pictures in the future.  I'll let my combined birthday/Christmas gift slide this year, but John better not get any ideas to keep this up in the future :)

Thank you so much to everyone for the calls, texts, messages, emails for my birthday.  Hearing, seeing, and reading all the birthday wishes definitely brings a smile to my face and helps me get through this tough time.

Here are a few shots with my new camera!!

Decorating our home for Christmas

What a fun day spent decorating our home for the Christmas holiday.  After our tree spent the past 2 weeks standing bare, we finally got the ornaments and lights placed.  Hannah was so much fun and seemed to really enjoy helping hang the ornaments.  She was very helpful and hasn't tried to rip anything off yet.  

Seeing Hannah get so excited about the decorations makes me so anxious for Christmas to get here.  She is going to be so much fun this year!  

  

   Running around the tree                                         sitting under the stockings                            helping hang candycanes  

 

                                                                                                            helping Mommy out 

 

                               Will this fit here?                                                                What's in this box daddy?  

  

             I kinda like this one!                                  Holding this steady for my daddy                  Hanging the star on the top

 

                      Having so much fun                                                               its SNOW!  

 

        Daddy helping me reach up high                                  Just hanging out 

  

         Our new advent calendar                                 me and my daddy                                       Hanging out with Santa

                                                          

                                                                                             Merry Christmas!!