The DeWaal Family: Christmas catch-up

So it has been quite awhile since I last blogged and I have so many things I wanna post but I thought I better get the Christmas one out of the way first because I'm sure we are all so over it by now! :)

This holiday has been a fun one for us, and as always we were very spoiled (especially the one and only grand-daughter!) Madison had a lot more fun this year and was very into all the lights and fun things surrounding Christmas. Every morning she would go into the living room and want me to turn on the Christmas tree lights, and every night she would ask to turn on the lights outside. Whenever we'd be driving somewhere at night and she'd see a house with Christmas lights on, she would pretty much spaz out! It was cute how much she loved them! She'd say, "lights...pitty!" Oh and reindeer ("reineer") lights was a whole nother story... she was obsessed with anyone who had reindeer lights in their front yard (our neighbors across the street, in-laws etc) and would always want to go outside and see them, even in the day when they weren't turned on! She actually still asks about it now when we go in our front yard, even though it's been well over a month since they've been gone.

Another one of Maddie's holiday favorites was her first advent calendar. She knew the routine every day after breakfast and would go find her calendar, take it by the tree and want to open a door for her treat! Then she'd try to open another one, and another one... haha We thought she'd be devastated when Christmas Eve came and she ate her last chocolate on the calendar.... we were thinking we've have to do this all year because she expected it everyday but luckily she has now forgotten about it, and I'm sure she'll be just as excited when next year comes around.

Maddie got very good at pointing out Santa on all sorts of decorations, in the stores, at people's houses etc. Then she finally got to meet Santa at our ward Christmas party, where he gave her a candy cane. And yes, she still talks about this one too! Whenever I go to exercise class at our church, she will point to the stage where Santa was (back at the beginning of December) and say, "Santa... treat...Santa goes!" I can't believe how good her memory is because it's been 2 months and she still talks about him all the time! haha

Maddie of course got more into the presents this year too now that she's older. Last year she had fun ripping the wrapping paper apart but this year she knew what "pezents" were and was very excited to get some new things. A couple of her favorites were a new baby (she LOVES her babies and is such a cute little mommy... she's definitely ready to be a big sister in a few months, she will be great!), a little stroller for her babies, a kitchen set with tons of food and a shopping cart, and a little tent/tunnel to play in. Of course she was spoiled with clothes and stuffed animals and lots of other toys too! Lucky little girl!

Well here are a few pictures we took when we were at my family's house on Christmas Eve and Nick's family's house on Christmas Day...

Here are the 3 grand-kids on my side, all in their Christmas jammies Christmas Eve