Christmas in DC, bye bye Baltz's

After our perfect Christmas Eve/morning, we headed to DC to visit my brother and his family one last time before we head to California.  It was so fun to just relax and hang out with them and let Stella run around with her cousins.  They have so much fun together, we're going to miss them so much.  I hate to even think about it.  I of course was bawling as we pulled away and headed back to Philly during a snowstorm.  (So happy we're leaving just in time for the bad weather, yet we still got some snow for the holidays!)  CJ, Kari, Hannah, Haydin and Brooklyn: We love you so much and honestly, we miss you already.

Christmas

This year Christmas seemed to really fly by.  Stella sort of actually, almost got it - which made it about 10 times the amount of fun Christmas typically is.  She doesn't really understand Santa yet, but she does know that he says "ho, ho, ho".  So if you ask her what he says, she'll say it.  So cute.

We did our traditional Christmas Eve which consists of listening to Christmas music, eating fondue, opening our Xmas Eve gifts (ornaments and pjs), watching A Christmas Story and we added to it this year, by reading Stella 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Stella trying once again to see if it's okay to open a present before Christmas.

Preparing the fondue dinner.

Stella in awe of her tree while hanging out in her laundry hamper.

YUM.

Group photo.

Stella trying on her new pjs.

And her new mukluks.

Pointing to Santa while saying "ho, ho, ho"

My new pjs.

Stella and mommy in our new gear.

Mike's new slippers.

Mike and Stella with her new ornament and her new book.

Watching Stella's face as she walked into the living room was priceless.  She's obsessed with Minnie Mouse and Goofy (and really any character on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).  Her favorite gift of all was a Mickey Mouse Santa balloon that she still to this day will not let go of.  It goes everywhere with her.  But, she LOVED opening her presents this year.  She got some great gifts from her grandparents, cousins/aunts/uncles, and Santa brought her a tricycle.  Mike and I loved watching her and enjoyed Mimosas and sweet rolls while we went through our stockings from Santa and our gifts to each other and from family.  It was an amazing Christmas morning... and shortly after we headed off to DC for dinner with my brother and his family.

Christmas morning - Santa came!

Her favorite gift, the Mickey Mouse balloon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morris likes his gift.

Cool mags for a new house!

yummy breakfast.

Riding her new trike.

We printed our blog into a hardcover book.

The artist hard at work.

Giving Mickey kisses while modeling her new tutu.

Last Trip to NYC as East Coasters

We felt like we needed to get one final trip to NYC in, since it has been one of our favorite things about living in Philly, especially during the holidays. We had to stop at a few clothing stores for Mike in the Village, a few for me in Chelsea and had to make our way to Levain, for one final delicious cookie and of course, we had to end it with a visit to Rockefeller to see the tree (Stella was fast asleep by this point). It was a great day, we're really going to miss NYC.

Picking out the perfect tree

This Christmas is going to be a little different for us, we're not going home to Utah, we're mid-move (across the country) and so, we thought we at least needed to make it feel as much like Christmas as we could.  Of course, it all starts with the perfect Christmas tree.  We typically go to Home Depot to get our tree, it's a good price and they always have great selection.  But, this year we decided to support a local tree farm just a mile from our house.  It was really cold, but we ended up finding a beautiful little tree.

Once we got home and set it on the tree stand, Stella couldn't wait to tear into the ornaments and hang them on the tree.  Of course, now her favorite thing to do is take the ornaments off, carry them around, put them in her purse/suitcase...etc.  We quickly learned to put the "special" ornaments at the top.

And Stella got her very own Christmas tree to decorate in her room.