ever's first christmas

here is the story of our christmas with lots of pictures.  will worked on christmas so it was just a regular day at home for ever and i.  luckily he was able to get off work a little early so we could finally open presents.  ever was napping when will got home so we had our own time to open gifts from each other without chasing our girl all over the house.  

side note...i've noticed that i really like pictures that are out of focus lately.  they happen by accident but i'm glad. this was one of us instructing ever on ripping wrapping paper.

our first christmas together we kept things really simple because we were in the process of buying our house and that year always stands out to me as a special one.  we made rules that year....we each had to make a gift then we were able to buy a few tiny things...mainly stocking stuffers.  we actually went shopping together that year and bought ourselves the first couple board games we owned then we picked a couple really small things and wrapped them and we got each other a few surprises but it was very minimal.  so this year i was aiming for the same thing because it just seems more heartfelt to me.  

i set a dollar amount which i know both of us ended up exceeding because we get really happy about buying things for one another.....but still we kept it simple.  

we always start by opening a card that we write a bunch of mushy stuff in then we open the things in our stockings and move on.  

right away we both noticed that we had identical gifts wrapped almost exactly the same in our stockings...we bought each other the same thing without knowing it...great minds think alike.  

by the way i'm sure you'll see what these are in future posts because we think they are fun but basically they are a dinosaur and pig toy that have big mouths and you put a ball in their mouth then squeeze their tummy and it shoots the ball across the room.  we had a war with these on christmas....really fun.

will got these cool glasses for our stockings...i kept telling him to keep a straight face but he couldn't.  so we proceeded to do every crazy face i shouted out...including my happy as a clam face which will really can't do and we laughed at how nerdy we are.

we were really happy with the fun and practical gifts we each got.  it was so much fun but it got even better because ever woke up and we gave her the presents we had picked for her which again we kept really simple and you know what she loved most from what i wrapped up....a little wooden toy set that has hedgehogs and mushrooms.  she carried her wooden hedgehog around the rest of the night.  she also got books (because she loves books...could sit and pretend read and turn pages for a long time) the one pictured below has a story which i'll soon share.

then my mom came over and ever opened gifts from her which she loved as well.  a few from that stack were two vintage fisher price toys....the chatter telephone (which i remember playing with as a child) and the piano.  she also got her the interactive dog jingle.  ever was actually with us when she got her that and you should have seen her reaction when we put jingle up to her face....she was overjoyed...i'm thinking because it reminds her of my moms dogs that she loves.  

sharing a wooden mushroom with jingle

a bite for me a bite for you.

the rest of the day was spent eating a dinner i kind of ruined (more on that later), playing board games, and trying to get a good family picture.....

after this one we finally gave up because ever was so annoyed with us.