It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!

The big day is finally here! I am sure that I was much more excited than Helen Grace- ha!

Growing up in the Moore household, Santa would always leave a trail of Hershey Kisses from my room down to the Christmas tree and would write a message in them at the foot of the tree. This year at the Toohig household, Santa signed his name at the foot of our tree next to his gift to HG, the LeapFrog activity table. We had a great morning of listening to Christmas music, opening gifts, and watching Helen Grace take it all in. She really enjoyed banging on her activity table and standing up on it. She again loved the tissue paper, and any crinkly plastic bags were a hit as well.

I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. on Christmas morning which was terribly early after our long night on Christmas Eve, but that’s the only way we all got up and ready for mass at 9:30 a.m. She was very proud of Geggy as she was a reader that day. HG did perk up when she heard her voice! Helen Grace behaved pretty well through her second church service in 12 hours, but she did get a little sleepy in the middle of it so her daddy walked her around the narthex for a while. She came back in and went up front with John to receive communion and was given a blessing from Father Tim.  Of course, HG was thrilled with that and enjoyed checking everything out on her journey to the front of the church.

After mass, we went to my parents’ house for our gift opening time together, and Bubba was even there for the celebration. I am so glad she was there to watch Helen Grace get lost in all her gifts and wrapping paper- literally, she was surrounded by piles of gifts and paper! I love watching our parents go goo-goo over their grandchild. One thing is for sure- she will always know that she is loved and know how important she is to ALL of her family. She was passed from grandparent to grandparent to great-grandmama and back around. I loved watching it and soaking it all in. It is obviously very helpful to have my mom and Ms. Jeanne both be teachers- she got all kinds of books and fun learning toys that will keep her entertained for years! After filling up on warm apple cider and yummy breakfast treats, we all headed to Ms. Jeanne’s around 2:00 for our Christmas meal.

Helen Grace was exhausted from the gift opening at my parents and fell asleep in my arms as soon as we got to Ms. Jeanne’s, but being the social butterfly that she is, she couldn’t stand to not be included in the lunch celebration. She woke up and sat in her high chair while the rest of us ate. We all found our own couch or spot on the floor and had nice, lazy afternoon/night of family time with constant dessert offerings and overflowing wine glasses. :)

We made it back home a little before 8:00 p.m. or so, and John turned right back around to make it to the annual Christmas Monopoly game with the guys at the Browns. You would think that HG would have collapsed from her LONG day, but she was WOUND UP. She laid in my lap for over an hour literally bouncing! She finally wore herself out around 9:45 or 10:00 p.m. After only a short hour of sleep, Helen Grace woke up crying. While I can normally put her paci back in and walk away when she’s giving me that typical whiny, fake sounding cry, she was absolutely squalling and had tears running down her face. With John’s blessing of “If Mama wants to pick up her baby, Mama needs to pick up her baby,” I grabbed her up and cuddled with her in her rocking chair. Christmas was her seven month birthday, and May 25th still seems so unreal. I asked my mom today if the day of your child’s birth always feels so unbelievable and surreal, and she responded that it’s God’s way of making you remember just the glorious parts so that you’ll want to have more kids- ha! I blame a lot of my surreal feelings on the anesthesia and pain meds, but I just can’t believe it all happened so quickly and unexpected yet she was so healthy and happy. John and I are grateful for Christmas to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus, and we also took the time to be thankful for the healthy arrival of our baby girl seven months ago.

Santa’s note in Hershey Kisses under the tree with HG’s new activity table “Merry Christmas, people! Now get me outta this crib so I can see what Santa brought me!” “Look, I can stand up with the help of my table!” She can’t keep her hands off the tree- loves to grab the ornaments and lights. Big hugs! Laughing with Daddy Opening her stockingLet it be noted that her daddy put this bow in her hair! But it does look pretty dang cute… She loves her baby doll and glowing seahorse. Getting some Daddy kisses Checking out the beautiful nativity scene at church (thank you, Geggy!) Happy Birthday, baby Jesus! Opening gifts at Spif’s and Google’s…she loves these JellyCat books! Helen Grace’s FIRST PURSE!!!! Spif and Google With Bubba This happens a lot in our house. Kissing Santa Claus Aunt Kathryn Geggy Grandma Geggy and Grandma Tuckered out at Grandma’s after a fun-filled day! On her second wind late on Christmas nightStill going strong!