Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas is even more fun when you get to be the one playing Santa. Andrew and I stayed home this year for Christmas eve and morning, opting for a more relaxed and stress free holiday. We started out Christmas eve night with a nice dinner. I tried my hand at baking a turkey and it turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Nice and moist and super yummy! Andrew agreed so I'm not just tootin' my own horn. Of course we had to have rolls and sweet potatoes with our turkey dinner which were also wonderful. (I cheated on the rolls though...hooray for pillsbury!) We kept the dinner somewhat small with just the before mentioned and corn. A 14 lb. turkey for just two people is kind of a lot of food. Ella liked all but the turkey. We think it's because of the texture.

After dinner we had Ella open her traditional Christmas Eve present of pajama's. This year they were extra special because....I MADE THEM! Who knew Sarah could sew? I certainly didn't. Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law who held my hand the whole time I was able to make her a cute little nightgown. Elly looks super cute in them and doesn't seem to mind that they're a little long. In fact she seems to love it. She's brought it to me several times, wanting to put it on.

We then put Ella to bed and Andrew and I relaxed while we watched Mixed Nuts. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's an excellent Christmas comedy starring Steve Martin. Normally we'd watch the touchy feely Christmas movies on Christmas Eve but Andrew was dying for Mixed Nuts.

Christmas morning came around 9 o'clock (hooray for babies that sleep in!) and Ella and I woke daddy up. He seemed pretty excited to see what Santa brought him so we headed out and Ella went straight to my stocking. I got a box of oranges from Santa and you know kids and boxes. It only took Elly a few seconds to find her stocking though and she dug in, finding her new toothbrushes, baton, and other small toys. We then, of course opened presents. Andrew recieved a lot of small things. Ella recieved clothes and toys...big surprise there. And I got a sanding disc!!! I know, it sounds lame but I was excited. You see, Andrew found an OLD bike (it looks just like the retro bikes that are popular now but it's a real retro bike!) behind the shed at his work. No one was claiming it so he snatched it and brought it home. It needs a lot of work but the frame is in good shape so he'll sand that down, repaint it, get new wheels and tires, new seat, brakes, handle bar covers, and if I'm a very good girl, maybe I'll even get a bell and basket! I'm super excited!

We then ate breakfast, a tasty sausage casserole made by yours truly, and then we headed to Andrew's parents where we had dinner and more presents. (We got all three Toy Stories!!!) We spent the rest of the day relaxing and putting puzzles together. It was a nice, mellow Christmas. The best Christmas yet!

As for New Years, I have no pics but again, we went to Andrew's parents, partied and ate junk food. That's about it.