Shay's 1st Christmas

It's hard to believe that this time last year I was 6+ months pregnant and we had not met Little Miss Shay yet. And this December 25th found her crawling around amidst a huge pile of presents at Jeff's parents' place for her first Christmas. She is one much-loved baby!
 

A happy Shay Bug by Papa & Mimi's Christmas tree

My mom and her boyfriend, Ron, flew in from Minnesota to spend Shay's first Christmas with us. The trip was Ron's gift to my mom (thank you Ron!). We all piled into "Nadia" to drive to New River Fellowship for a candlelight Christmas Eve Service (Yes, we name our cars. Our other one is named "Dominique." Bonus points to whoever can figure out the last names of the people we named them after). I'm not sure if it was the loud music, the dim lights or the crowd of people, but Shay sort of freaked out when we brought her into the main auditorium. So I headed right back out to the lobby with her and proceeded to give her Cheerios (we arrived right around the time she was due for dinner). She muched preferred Cheerios over church! After awhile, we were able to go back into the service where she was wiggly as could be in Daddy's arms but was content to quietly eat her Cheerios and puffs, only flinging them into the aisle once, LOL! When we got home, she was ready for bed so we put her down and then ordered Chinese food, a relatively new Christmas Eve tradition for Jeff & me, and we all watched "Meet the Parents." Not your typical Christmas Eve but fun nonetheless.

2 cars, a ton of gifts and baby gear later, we all arrived at Jeff's parent's house in the afternoon on Christmas Day. We had a beautiful white Christmas in Nashville, the first in 17 years, and the view of his parent's backyard was so pretty. Minnesota friends...trust me, a white Christmas in Tennessee is a big deal!

Jeff & me on Larry & Kay's deck

Shay took a long nap while we ate dinner and woke up in time to "open" her gifts. She was none too impressed and was more interested in crawling all over and exploring. Must have been total sensory overload for her. Dinner and gift opening were topped off by a visit from Santa (Larry) and the Grinch (Jeff) which totally freaked poor Shay out! Maybe next year they'll be more welcome.

Not at all happy about the Grinch honing in on Christmas

 

Santa "Larry" and the Grinch "Jeff" with an unhappy Buggy

 

I can't believe how many toys, clothes & books Shay got! And, since she's a Shay Bug, many were bug-themed. Jeff's Nana got her a set of 4 bug hand puppets. I think Jeff & I have had more fun with them than Shay!  Thank you to everyone for loving on our little girl this Christmas and all throughout the year!

Shay checking out her Christmas bear from Aunt Julie & Uncle Bob

Christmas bow baby!

Also, congratulations go out to our friends Burke & Sarah Snyder on the arrival of their baby girl, Aubrey Caroline, who was born on December 23rd!  She's beautiful!