Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sunday, January 2, 2011

A Tale of Two Christmases

We had two Christmas celebrations this year. We started by spending a week and a half in St. George with my family; then we went back to California to celebrate with Scott's family. We had a lot of fun.

Here are some of the highlights:

Four years ago, Scott proposed to me just outside the house of my great-grandfather, which is in Green Gate Village in St. George. We went back there during our visit and took pictures with Matthew:



On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed playing in the backyard of my parents' house:



That evening, we gathered together for our traditional Christmas Eve celebration. Here's my niece, Abby, getting geared up for the fun:


We acted out the navitity. I think my nephew, Zack, looked like he was basking in the glory of playing baby Jesus:


Scott played the role of the donkey and he was roasting in his costume:


Here's the cast:


After singing a rousing rendition of "The 12 Days of Christmas", we discovered my dad had slept through some or all of it. We couldn't believe it!


We opened one or two presents on Christmas Eve and Matthew's first present was a coloring book and some crayons. He loved them!


Christmas Morning!


Santa brought Matthew an ornament in his stocking, which he was caught admiring with Grandma Vincent:


Finding what else Santa brought:


Who knew flashcards would be such a big hit?



Matthew with his cousins, Austin and Wyatt:


One of Matthew's favorite things to do at Grandma's house:


Leaping into the Christmas fun:


Another of Matthew's favorite things to do at Grandma's house. He would throw the ball down the stairs and erupt with laughter as his cousins threw it back up the stairs to him. He could play that game forever.


Matthew and Austin get some good night kisses from Grandma:


The day after Christmas, we got together with some of my friends from St. George:


At one point, Matthew climbed onto my friend, Tiffany's, wheelchair to try it out. Make yourself at home, bud.


On the day we left, Matthew enjoyed rolling on the bed while I was changing the sheets.


Once we got back to CA, we had a really fun celebration with Scott's family. Here Matthew is enjoying the attention of aunts Liz and Katie:


One of the highlights for Matthew was this set of Mickey Mouse socks. Apparently our son is totally satisfied as long as he receives socks and flashcards for Christmas. I hope this keeps up.


And last of all, we have videos of Christmas morning and of Matthew opening a present. Unfortunately, I filmed them both sideways and I think the quality went down a bit when I rotated the picture. I hope they are still enjoyable to watch.





We hope you also had a merry Christmas!