Christmas!

We had a wonderful, fun-filled Christmas with both our families.  Earlier this year we decided that we weren't traveling anywhere for Fiona's first Christmas so the whole family (my mom, Sean's parents, my sister, my brother and sister-in-law and Sean's brother and sister-in-law) decided to come visit us for Christmas.  Most everyone got here on Thursday and staying through either Monday or Tuesday.

Friday we mostly hung out at home playing games, baking goodies and just visiting.  It started snowing mid-morning (I think) and kept snowing on and off into Christmas morning.  We went to 5 o'clock mass on Christmas Eve and were met with close to an inch of new snow as we left church.

Playing peek-a-boo with a burp cloth

Now it's a hat

On Saturday Fiona woke up around 5:30 (not unusual) so she hung out while I got ready and by 6:30 most everyone was up.  We waited until 7 before waking up the sleepy heads.  After the coffee started flowing and the gifts were handed out, we let Fiona have the honors of opening the first gift.  I made sure to pick one the had pretty loose paper.  She grabbed at it a couple of times with some help from me and then started to play with the loose pieces of paper more than the gift.  Our tradition (well for my family anyways) is to go around the room taking turns for each person.  It took at least an hour (probably closer to two) to get through everyone.  Fiona had the most (of course!) and I helped her quite a bit.  Her favorite things were a piece of string/ribbon that was used to hold a box closed, the bows and the wrapping paper.

We had a white Christmas!

First gift that Fiona opened (with some help from me)...of course her tongue is sticking out!

She kept the bow on her head for quite a while

A new hat that's still a little too big

The bow went from her head to her mouth.

This piece of yellow ribbon was her favorite new "toy"

It was nap time after that so while she slept Leo, Tracy, Donna and I built her a fort from the Mega Bloks that she got for Christmas.  She even had a frog prince waiting for her after she woke up.  :)

 Fiona's castle - even has an arch!

 We got her to crawl inside of it to get her frog.

Mmmm...blocks...

The walls lasted a little while, but in the end they couldn't withstand a 9-month old.

The rest of the day was spent in much the same way as Friday: playing games, visiting, trying out new toys, and making food.  We had delicious ham and homemade scalloped potatoes (my favorite), plus sides, for dinner and birthday cake (for Carol's birthday) for dessert.

Family picture...even Fiona is looking at the camera!

To add to the excitement of the day, Fiona stood up from sitting on the floor without using any other objects all by herself for the first time on Christmas day.  That was met with lots of excitement and applause from the grown-ups which actually startled her quite a bit.  Then on Sunday, she stuck her face into the water for the first time.  She got water up her nose and that upset her a lot.  So now she knows that you can't just stick your face in the water and keep breathing normal.

Fiona hanging out with Donna and Tracy on Sunday.

Showing off her new outfit

Also since it's taken me a couple of days to get the pictures posted (lots to choose from) I can add that on Tues Fiona took her first step without holding onto anything.  She did it twice: once while I was at work and once after I got home.  Both times she fell on her butt right after.