Christmas 2011 (Brady's FIRST!)

We had a super Christmas this year. The celebrating started out with a Neilson get-together on Christmas Eve out in Temecula. There were 70+ of us! We had a great meal, had a great time visiting, and watched the little ones reenact the nativity. It was a lot of fun.

When we got home, Ryan, Brady, and I got on Skype with my family and opened their gifts. I thought it would be fun if they could experience a bit of Brady's first Christmas and I think they enjoyed being able to watch him open some gifts. My mom made the most incredible quilt for Brady. It's "The Pokey Little Puppy," which was one of my favorite books as a kid. I need to get a good picture of it soon.

After skyping, we put Brady down for bed and played Monopoly (a Christmas Eve tradition) with Rick, Arlene, Courtney, and Josh. I was the first one out and Courtney won.

On Christmas morning, we woke up early for breakfast (pigs in a blanket (another tradition in the family) and then headed off to church.

Trying to include Walle in our nice family photo, but he wanted to run away instead

After church, I put the babe down and we all settled in to open gifts. Lots of wonderful gifts were exchanged (I got my first IPHONE!) before we got to talk to Luke on the phone for an hour. He's serving a 2 year mission in Montana for our Church.

Brady woke up while we were on the phone and sat nicely playing with the oranges from our stockings.

He needed some help opening presents and was definitely more interested in eating the paper than looking at the gift under it.

Another Neilson tradition: posing in front of the tree with our gifts

Brady with the quilt my mom made and lots of new toys. He LOVES that train on the right. It holds blocks and he sits longer than I've ever seen playing with that thing. 

Last year my mom made me and Ryan matching pajama pants and saved enough fabric for our first baby. This year she sent matching pants for Brady. I LOVED matching with my two favorite guys. 

It really was a fantastic Christmas!!