The best Christmas ever

Ok so this is really late. I apologize.

This was the best Christmas ever though. One of the first things that made this Christmas great is that my family and doggers were all healthy! Here all three pups are in full holiday gear and happy to have their parents at home finally for a Christmas. I am not sure how many more we will all have together so this was very special.

We also as I have stated before, had the prettiest Christmas tree ever. It was a huge mess to clean up the tree and garland before we left for Hawaii, but brought me tons of joy during the month we had it up.

Above is our family shot I took really quick before heading to our friends house for an xmas eve extravaganza. It was so great to be with friends, have amazing food and to have Ocoee play with the other kids. Now that I have a kid I understand the saying, Christmas is for the kids. Sam tracked Santa on the computer while the girls colored in their new coloring books and we all joyfully popped Christmas crackers and told corny jokes.

Here is the view of the tree Christmas morning. Ocoee came downstairs in her dads arms and said Woa!

Hubby shows Ocoee how to use her new xylophone. We somehow lost the screws to the legs so we had to just place it on her new table and chairs.

Ocoee was pitifully neglected when it came to dolls, we had never bought one. This year she received one from grandma and one from Santa. She loves them the most. One doll, Nelle has clothes and shoes that come off and she loves to take these off. She is such a clothes horse!

Ocoee also received a Wheely Bug from her grandparents. She loves to push it around and has let me push her on it a few times, but is still unsure about riding it by herself.....she will soon though.

Grandma actually did a wonderful job with Christmas, she had a ladybug theme, with a ladybug book, charm bracelet charm, wheely bug and tons of other gifts. Ocoee was very spoiled by her!

 Ocoee also got a table and chairs from Santa. She sat in them so happily on xmas morning but then she got stuck and sorta fell a bit and now has yet to sit in them again.....she will though.

 Above hubby reads Ocoee a new book called MOO.....we must have read it 20 times Christmas morning!

Below I love that I actually caught a look of surprise on Ocoee's face. She said Woa's all morning long. We had so many gifts that we had to take breaks in between opening them. I felt like a kid as I opened my new Ugg Brooks......they are so comfy and nice. They don't look like Uggs, but rather cool boots. They made me go WOA!

This year Ocoee was old enough to open gifts and she really started getting the hang of it. She even unwrapped hubby's handmade soaps from his stocking.

The best thing about Christmas was that the weather warmed and there was fresh snow. Ocoee was able to go sledding for the first time in her new sled. We bundled her up and wrapped her in cozy blankets and headed over to the park. She smiled and smiled as we sent her down the small bump that was located near the big sledding hill in the park. Mike and I both looked at each other and smiled and said, how we felt this was the best Christmas ever. It was just us three and was very relaxing. We sipped tea and coffee while munching on bagels and lox and just soaked it all in. Ocoee being a little over a year and learning new things every minute really made it magical. She also loved the salmon lox....she could eat and eat it!

 Happiness is often not in the big things but in the small things and this Christmas really reminded me of that. The entire season was filled with a special quality this year and I hope we can capture this magic every year.

Cheers
J