bringing up bradshaws: Christmas Day 2009

For the first time, we woke up and celebrated Christmas morning in the comfort of our own home. In a way, it was surreal. We are officially the Momma and Daddy. We buy the gifts, we wrap them, we assemble them in all of the complicatedness, and we put them under the tree. It was kind of weird to wake up and grab the video camera just before getting Nora out of her crib. It was wonderful. The house was so quiet. Liam was still asleep when Nora called our names, so at first it was just the three of us on Christmas morning.

Here are some pictures of the kids' "big" gifts and a picture of the tree and gifts before the kiddos woke up. Also, you may notice their stockings made by the kids' Great, Great Aunt Hazel:

Shortly after Nora woke up and discovered her new dollhouse, Granna, Geegaw, and Aunt Mamie arrived to see the kids open their gifts and eat breakfast with us. I had such hopeful plans for our first Christmas morning breakfast in our home. However, I now realize that I over-planned and under-planned, all at once. I over-planned in that I attempted to make too many things. I under-planned in that I did not wake up early to make any preparations for all of the cooking and baking we were going to need to do. Amy and I decided to make the Pioneer Woman's buttermilk biscuits from scratch. Those were time-consuming, and can I tell you that neither Amy nor myself are to be trusted with leaving things in the oven? We failed to set a timer for the biscuits and completely forgot about them being in the oven, so they were---shall we say----crispy. Ugh, we were soooo close! They still tasted good, though! Next time, we'll get it right. Next time.

Also on the menu were PW's hashbrowns, turkey bacon, sausage and gravy, and juice and coffee. It was just a lot. Next year or next time, I'm doing cinnamon rolls or monkey bread or something else.

Jonathan and Amy cooking away.

Early Morning Chefs!

PW's Buttermilk Biscuits

Nora loved her dollhouse and spent most of the morning playing with it.

After breakfast, Liam napped, Nora played, and Jonathan and I showered. We headed over to Jonathan's parents' house around lunchtime where we snacked all.day.long. We ate leftovers and also whipped up a few other items to munch on all the live-long day. We had a wonderful time exchanging gifts with everyone.

Ms. Joyce holding her gift: BRADSHAW spelled out in architectual letters in New Olreans. It is so beautiful and I really want one for my house!

We also got Amy a work of NOLABET art: JOY with pics of our kiddos.

The Bradshaw's beautiful Christmas tree with loads of gifts underneath.

Trouble

Nora and Mamie

Nora got a Baby Alive doll from her Granna and Geegaw. She LOVES her. We've named her Molly, but we had to sort of force a name on her because of course Nora wanted to just call her Baby. She already has a "Baby," so we thought the Baby Alive doll needed a real name. Molly it is!

Liam playing with his gift from Amy. We call it the "Ball Game." It is seriously the HIT of Christmas. Both kids love the game and play with it constantly.

Geegaw and Liam

Pretty Amy Girl and her new sheets!

Handsome Hubby. Jonathan RACKED UP! He got a new sports coat, a new dress shirt, and new dress shoes from his parents. He looked awesome! So good that I told him he needed to take me out on the town. He hasn't followed through with that yet.