Christmas Kinda Late

Losta traditions with Clair-ey these past few weeks.  Christmas the most notable.  1. I have to point out Claire and her Christmas dress.  I told EVERYONE who would listen that someone MADE her the dress.  MADE it.  Smocking and all.  I couldn't believe it.  But I'm constantly amazed at the love that people show her and us.  She wore it to Christmas Eve service (and in her Santa pictures from a previous post) which promised to go way past her bedtime.  I worried a bit at how she would handle things.  Turns out, I worried for no reason.  She handled the service like a champ and slept as well as an average 6 almost 7 month old sleeps (I remember she may have woken up once to eat that night). 

The next morning, we did something a little different.  We had Christmas at our house.  Our house!  It was strange. It was different.  I felt incredibly adult--as if moving out, getting into a professional career, getting married and having a baby and turning 30 didn't make me feel like an adult-- hosting Christmas morning for your family definitely put me in that "adult category" in my mind.  While being in Colorado and with more family is the most preferable, usually, having everyone at the Herman house was pretty cool. 

  

Anyway, after brunch we settled into presents and stockings and Claire ripping into her first Christmas gifts.  She was pretty good for a newbie.  :-)    Our family was very sweet to her.  I'm excited for her to grow into her push car.  She got a little pink cell phone of her own (so, maybe, she'll leave ours alone!), clothes, books, little toys, an apron to bake cookies with mommy. . . fun stuff indeed.  

And, believe it or not, our Christmas was not over.  In the afternoon, we headed out to Murrieta to Christian's parents' where Claire met her Great-Grandpa Tamminga (they call him Bapah) for the first time, played with her Great Uncle Jeff, her cousin, Lila, and of couse, her Herman grandparents and aunt and uncles. I think Bapah was pretty excited to meet her, and she was pretty interested in him too.  After dinner, more presents too entirely too much fun, we left the second Christmas gathering, thankful for family, with all of its quirks and overwhelmed with the sense that we are loved.  That, was the most amazing part of all.