Christmas Day 2013

Of course, every single one of the pictures I took was of Judah... ha.

Actually, this was Christmas Eve... we showed him how to open a present, so he would be all excited to open the rest in the morning!

He loved the chunky animal puzzle pieces :)

The next morning he was indeed excited, but he only wanted to open one present at a time and then play with it for a long while! We spent a good portion of the day Skyping with our families and just hanging  out. I didn't take pictures of everything but I got the camera out a few times during the day. It took until bedtime for Judah to open all of his presents!

His very own watch (he has been obsessed with clocks/watches since he was a baby)

An airplane from Uncle James!

First glance at his big present (train table)...

... and he was completely absorbed!

"choo choo!"

Oh look! I did take a picture that didn't involve Judah. Our Christmas roast lamb feast, with perfectly roasted potatoes (if I do say so myself), roasted butternut squash with red onions and garlic, roasted brussel sprouts, and steamed broccoli, with plenty of gravy and fresh mint sauce for the lamb.

And back to the train table.

Underneath the Christmas tree...

Christmas is magical all over again when you have kids!

52/52

"A portrait of Judah once a week, every week, in 2013"

52/52 - You are so delighted with Christmas this year, which made it all the more exciting for us. You love lying under the tree and looking at the lights and making the little sparkly balls swing. We had such a fun Christmas Day with you - it took you all day to open your presents because you just wanted to play! 

The very last portrait of the year! I have so enjoyed capturing you in photos every week. Fear not, I will be starting over in the new year :) And come June there will be another sweet baby to take pictures of!

To see all of Judah's portraits from this year, click on the image below:

Joining in with Project 52 over at Che and Fidel.

My favorite portrait from last week is little Chloe playing in the snow... it snowed here too but it was just too cold for me to muster up the courage to take Judah out to play! Ah well, there will be more snow.

Merry Christmas!

First, I'll share our Christmas card out-take. We had pictures done by a photographer but it was so cold that Judah was crying and grumpy the whole time! We just about died laughing when we saw this "JOY" picture and Judah's face, and I knew we had to use it as an announcement...

I realized I posted it on facebook, but never announced on the blog... we are expecting baby #2 in June!

And here's the picture we used for our card, taken with our tripod in our backyard!

And the back of the card...

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Judah's First Christmas

The night before...
Our little 4-foot tree up on a side table out of reach of little hands.

Presents (pretty much all for Judah!) waiting to be opened.

We did stockings when we woke up on Christmas morning and Judah was like "Oh! This is for me?!"

He wasn't quite sure what to do with it, though.

After stockings, we read Luke 2 and then opened the pile of presents, mostly while Skyping with Nana and Grandad.

We had Christmas lunch with the Whitson family (friends from Kenya). 

 

Milling around the delicious food.

Judah got to sit in his own seat for a while. He though that was pretty awesome.

He looked adorable in his Christmas outfit.

He tried a lime wedge.

Made a funny face.

But kept going back for more with a concerned expression.

Handsome boys.

It snowed! In Dallas! On Christmas Day!

And they had a puppy. Judah LOVES puppies.

Judah entertained everyone.

He was "throwing" the ball to people...

Exploring with Stephen

Family Christmas picture.

Judah spotted the puppy and was trying to get at him... haha.

Back at home, surrounded by some of Judah's Christmas loot!

Daddy playing with Judah's his new lincoln logs :)

He built a house.

After Judah was in bed we had a late night Christmas breakfast-for-dinner and popped some of our Christmas crackers (thanks Dan!) :)

Judah's first Christmas was perfect! Relaxed, fun, and thoroughly enjoyed.