Christmas

I'm a bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of this post, so bear with me. I will be keeping these explanations short and sweet.

The Merkley family ventures up to Aspen Grove every 23rd of December. This year they rented two spacious lodges, but couldn't quite fill them up. Family in Finland, Atlanta, Augusta, and Madagascar couldn't seem to make the trek. But Eliza enjoyed her own quarters for the night, which was nice for her folks. The night of the 23rd Taylor made his massive batch of Danish rice cream...it is a cryin' shame he doesn't make it more than once a year. We also participated in Jack Horner Pie, courtesy of Aunt Kathy. The remainder of the night the kids went sledding, the adults caught up on everyone's lives, and I tried to refrain from freaking out about Eliza's failure to sleep and her new inclination to wake up 3 or 4 times a night.



As is tradition, and one of my favorite traditions, I might add, Taylor's parents give us Christmas pajamas every year.




Christmas morning was so special with little Eliza! She was mesmerized by the Christmas tree lights, seriously loved the wrapping paper on all of her presents, and was instantly entertained by all of the toys Santa brought her. Taylor's present highlights were an external hard drive and a new cell phone. Mine were clothes, naturally, and a camera, which is far superior to my 4 megapixel point and shoot. I am now in much better shape to combat these horrible Wisconsin winters! Eliza got a bunch of fun (and noisy!) toys from Grammy and Papa, who are so generous to us!




We then headed over to the Wight house to be with my family. We opened presents and ate some sinful treats. The present highlights were a camping tent, hair clippers, and Ecco shoes for Taylor and a sewing machine and much needed winter clothes for me! And Eliza got enough clothing from Grandpa and Ninny to last the next few years :)


Then to off we went to my Granny's for brunch!


And after that we headed down to Provo to my Aunt Lysa's for dinner. She is hands down the best cook I've ever been in contact with. So needless to say, it was a treat! This is how Eliza was feeling most of the time.

Taylor's Christmas miracle was getting to play some ping pong with our brother-in-law Brett.

Eliza was overall a champ during her first Christmas. It was so incredible having a baby at this special time of year. Incredibly special and incredibly tiring...but so worth it!