Merry & bright.

This was, by far, our merriest Christmas yet. I have been blessed with the most incredible family, both my little one and my extended ones. We were all spoiled rotten despite needing nothing, but oh-good-heavens did Brooke-o make out like a bandit! This girl had stacks of presents. Like, mountains. And she didn't mind a bit, as opening presents has become one of her new favorite things! She adores ripping off the bow and clawing at the paper. The girl opened every single one of her presents with very little assistance (not many babies on their 1st Christmas can say the same.) And she appropriately appreciated each one, including boring clothes, which she modeled for us by putting them around her neck to show them off (so freaking cute.)

She was inundated with toys (holy Toys R Us in our living room!) But her favorite gifts weren't the large, expensive ones, but rather some smaller inexpensive ones: the light-up/musical Princess microphone from my parents, a light-up water fountain bathtub toy from the husband's parents, and an Elmo remote from Santa. And she has already read all the books she got about 100 times each. Lesson learned: it's the simple things in life, my friends.

This was another best-explained-with-pictures kind of holiday, so here you go!

Her stash at my parents house on Christmas Eve was unnecessarily large. Not surprisingly, she loved her books!

Santa put Dum-Dums in her stocking at Grandma & Grandpa's. We had to pry them out of her hands to get her to move on to the rest of the stocking.

Testing out her new Minnie hooded bath towel.

Baby's 1st snickerdoodle :)

Waiting on the steps on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought her!

Santa knew she was kidding when she freaked out on his lap a few weeks ago and all but told him that she hated him. He stopped by with 3 presents (as there were 3 wise men w/presents) and so many things for her stocking that it was overflowing! (Oh and notice that the first thing she went for was a box of Elmo crackers - the only edible item in the bunch. Figures.)

 Thanks for the new shades, Santa!

That's her opening presents game face, a look of serious concentration.

 Her new doll got a nice Christmas hug and pat on the back, and then was set aside and hasn't been played with since. Maybe she'll play with it again, maybe not. You can't win 'em all, I guess.

Look at how big she is! How many babies stand up to open their gifts on their 1st Christmas while wearing size 2T pajamas? 

 Her kitchen was a hit!

 Thanks, Santa! You're the best!

A not-so-stellar family photo on Christmas morning, but, alas, here it is.

 Yet another unnecessarily large stash of gifts when we hosted Christmas at our house for the husband's side of the family. Being the only great-grandchild, I think it's safe to say she was the center of attention. And since everyone loves to buy toys for babies, Brooke cleaned up!

 Loves her Princess car!

We hope your holidays were blessed and merry! Next up for this house: Brooke's big birthday week extravaganza!!