A Merry Little* Christmas

(*Little is not at all reflective of the length of this post nor the amount of love we felt during the holidays!)

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas full of your favorite people and plenty of your favorite holiday treats (for me, that would be frosted sugar cookies; for Michael, egg nog; and for Katelyn, umm, avocado? Hey, it's festive green!) We had a great time celebrating Katelyn's first Christmas and we've come to the conclusion that there's something even more magical about the holidays with a little one. I, personally, found this Christmas to be one of reflection, celebration, and gratitude for all the blessings bestowed upon us this year. And also a time of rejoicing in the birth of Jesus!

(This picture was taken before heading to Christmas Eve mass. Katelyn's wearing her new, adorable Christmas dress from Grandma Debbie! If you're up for a flashback, here's a picture taken in the same spot last year at Christmas - baby in the belly!)

On Thursday morning, we loaded up the car and headed to Ames for Christmas. When we arrived, we had fun hanging out with my parents and brothers.

My dad and his two faves: Katelyn and golf!

Katelyn discovered Gramma and Grampa's super fun plastic bag drawer - little snooper! She loved pulling out all of the bags and opening and closing the drawer. 

On Friday, a little snowstorm rolled in - how perfect for Christmas Eve (if you weren't stuck driving in it anyway!) Katelyn and Grampa Ron watching the snowfall...

Katelyn was a little bashful around Uncle Ryan and Uncle Mitch, but warmed up to them after a bit. She was especially interested in Uncle Mitchell's fuzzy face!

Showing Uncle Ryan how much fun a golf ball and a wooden spoon can be :)

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Rehm stopped by for a visit - it was fun to see them!

Hayley (or Ms. Medsker as she's called by her 2nd graders) had fun reading to Katelyn. These two are book lovers!

"Oh cool, beard man is back! Can I pet your face?"

Speaking of pets, Katelyn loved Daly the kitty. She pointed to him when he was around and when we would ask "Where's the kitty?" she would scan the room for him.

Playing with "her" remote control (an old one that my parents cleaned up just for Katelyn :)

Earlier in the day, Katelyn took one step without holding on to anything - her very first step!! Here she is trying to go for it again (we have yet to see her do it since then though).

Katelyn was such a good girl at church on Christmas Eve. She liked looking at the people behind us and also thought it was fun to be "passed" down the row after spending a few minutes with each person. Michael was holding her, then she'd reach for me. I was holding her, then she'd reach for Gramma Kathy. Gramma was holding her, then she'd reach for Grampa Ron. And then she'd work her way back to Michael. Goofball!

After church, Katelyn got to open one gift - Christmas pajamas to wear that night :)

On Christmas morning, Katelyn had a lot of gifts to open and arguably enjoyed the wrapping paper, boxes, and bows more than the gifts themselves!

Helping Gramma with her gifts...

All that gift opening is tiring! Taking a snuggly snooze with Grampa Ron...

On Christmas afternoon, we headed to Des Moines to visit some more family members. The first stop was at Katelyn's Great Aunt Cindy and Uncle RJ's house. They had a Santa hat that Katelyn tried on :)

A photo of the girls: Hayley, Katelyn, Missy, Aunt Cindy, and Kathy.

Katelyn loved looking at Great Aunt Cindy's special purple, silver, and gold tree!

And those shiny bulbs are just way too tempting!

Then we were off to our next stop: Great Aunt Ronda and Uncle Joel's house to see the Ridnour side of the family! 

A picture with Grampa and Great Grandma Verla...

Clapping for all the great Christmas gifts she received!

After the exciting Christmas day, it was time to head back to Ames for a good night's sleep. The next day, Katelyn got to play with all of her new toys!

Smiles for Uncle Ryan!

She loves her new walker from Gramma and Grampa... (she even knows how to use the phone!)

On Sunday afternoon, we met our great friends, Heidi and Andy, out for lunch. They were in town from Atlanta and we really enjoyed catching up - we don't get to see these two enough!

We went back to Minneapolis on Monday morning after a wonderful Christmas weekend. We're thankful for all the time we got to spend with family and friends, which is what Christmas is all about.