Christmas Morning

Aaron and I were super-excited about Sarah Graves' first Christmas.  

Our tree was decorated with several ornaments proclaiming her first Christmas.  I picked this one out for her at a little ornament place in Grant Park while we were in New York.

When we came home from church, we could not wait to see what Santa might bring.  We got baby girl off to bed and we followed quickly so that we could wake up nice and early like baby girls like to do on Christmas morning.  When we woke, we came downstairs (after a long nursing in Momma and Daddy's bed where they soaked up every last second of sleep) and found all of these toys from Santa. 

It was a little overwhelming to see so many toys at once, but after staring at it for a second, she picked the activity toy up front and focused on it for a while. 

Santa also left stuff in our stockings.  Santa Paws filled Lucy's stocking with lots of chew toys and inserts for her treat ball; and SG had some sippy cups, a toothbrush, some toothpaste and a cell phone toy in her stocking. 

Eventually, she warmed up to playing with her toys.  The cow toy rolls, plays a banjo tune, and says, "Moo!"

Santa brought some big knob puzzles that show shapes, colors, and another to show animals. 

Her rocking horse is fun because you press its ears and it gallops and neighs!  She gets quite tickled by it. 

She has been enjoying the set of lift the flap books and they really are cute.  It's a set by Karen Katz and each one uses simple words for a baby and she just loves to lift the flap (and occasionally rip it off).  She also likes the Leap Frog toy dog, Violet.  You hook it up to the computer and program it to say their name and know some of their favorites like food, color, and song and you also pick playtime songs and sleepy songs to put on it.  Tickle Me Elmo has gotten some attention too.  She hasn't really been interested in the construction blocks yet, but those are for an older baby, so she may need some time to grow into them.  

If you're worried that Santa didn't bring tons of girlie toys, don't be.  She received a purse, a kitchen set for babies (it's adorable), a doll named Cailin that smells like heaven, a learning home, and a tea set from aunts, uncles, and grandparents.   Santa wanted her to have some other toys that would teach her some different things.  We are very fortunate to have received so many wonderful toys for Christmas. 

Her first Christmas morning was overwhelming for her and a lot of fun.  I think Aaron and I may have enjoyed it more than she did!  The joy of Christmas really seems to be in children and now that I'm grown up, I find the joy in my own child. 

Here's some video of her spectacular Christmas morning.