Christmas Day

I had to work Christmas Eve night, so when I got home we opened presents from each other and Santa then webcammed with my in-laws and exchanged our gifts that way. This Christmas was by far the best one!! And I'm sure they're only going to get more and more fun!! Sam definitely understood things a lot better this year! And although it took us 15 minutes to talk her out of her bed and her toy room, when she came out to the living room and saw her kitchen and stocking from Santa her eyes just lit up as a perma-grin appeared across her face! She did much better with opening presents as she instructed mommy to "pull pull" on all the wrapping paper to help her get it opened :) We still had some trouble keeping her on track with opening all of her presents as she got so excited with each present she didn't want to open another. But, we eventually got through them all and she couldn't decide which one to play with, although her favorites appear to be her kitchen, her "Sweet Pea" doll, the Veggie Tales movie, Pistachio, Mr. Potato Head and her Dora book with all the little figurines in the back. After presents we put the ham in the oven and all laid down so Mommy could take a nap while Sam watched Pistachio three or four times over :)

Christmas in Spokane

Due to the nature of Michael and my jobs, we unfortunately end up working over most holidays. So we went back to Spokane a few weeks early to celebrate Christmas with my family and pick up gifts from Michael's family to open Christmas morning over the webcam. While we were there we also went on a lights cruise across lake Coeur d'alene.

Sam showing off her stickers to Grandma that she got in her stocking...

Peeking at the present before she got it all the way open

Watching the water as the boat cruised across the lake...

The wind blowing in our faces on the lake cruise

Getting ready to start the lake cruise...Sam was more intrigued with the water hitting the boat than she was with the thousands of lights...

Decorating for Christmas

Christmas this year has already been so much more fun than previous years! Samantha is way more involved with everything from decorating to going to see the lights! She loved helping put up and decorate the tree! Although she could not get the ornaments on the tree very well, she did enjoy putting the candy canes on...and later taking them off to eat! Watching her face as we drive by decorative houses and hearing the "ooohhh", "wow", "lights" and "flash" from the back seat has been sooo much fun!!