Wednesday, December 24, 2008

O53-54: Olivia - Christmas Photo Special

Well, due to my lack of ability to keep up with Newsletters, I'm carrying on nonetheless. And with the Christmas spirit! This is your mini Christmas Photo Special, Liv. :)

Christmas 2004
Your very first Christmas was at your Gma Bonnie's house. We lived there at the time and you were SO cute. :) You still are cute, but MAN you were cute when you were a baby. And you didn't fuss when I did you hair (the little I could do to it) that helped with the cute factor seeing as now you act as if I'm sawing off a limb each time I reach for the brush...

Regardless, you were cute. This was in front of the tree wearing your Christmas dress, you had just gotten your photo taken with Santa at Clackamas Town Center for the first time. You did very well for a baby, I've seen (and I was) much much worse. :) They even gave you a tiny tree when you were done!

Here's the Santa shot. No, you weren't smiling. But, hey - you weren't screaming! And for a baby, that's an accomplishment. I was very proud of you and you were SO cute. It was a great First Christmas shot. :)

On Christmas Eve the tradition has always been that we open one of our gifts. This was started partially because your Pa's (My mother's father, your great-grandfather) birthday IS on December 25th! Growing up they used to open all their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, they'd wait for it to get dark and go to town! Christmas morning, Santa would have filled their stockings, and it was Pa's birthday!

So when I was growing up, we began opening just one gift on Christmas Eve night and when I had you, I passed it along as well.

Here we are in front of the fireplace at Gma Bonnie's house. This was on Christmas Eve as well after you had gotten in your Christmas PJs from Mimi (my mom). You gave a good smile and it ended up being a favorite from that year. :)

This was one of the shots that was taken while opening gifts, you were so funny and excited to see all the boxes and paper and bows, probably more excited than you were for the gifts. :)

Christmas 2005
Your Grandma Cole (my father's mother, your great-grandma) sent you this beautiful dress for Christmas and you looked so darling in it I had you stand on the coffee table for photos, lol. I wasn't as able to follow you around that year as I was about 8 months pregnant with Duncan but I couldn't resist. :)

This is the closest I got to a Christmas "Santa" photo for this year. Grammy (my mother's mother - your other great-grandma) made this dress for you in a beautiful blue. You looked wonderful in it. While we didn't get a Santa picture, having you next to the tree was just as sweet. :)

Christmas Day we went to both Gma Bonnie & Gpa Bill's house and Papa and Gma Tanya's house to celebrate. You were still so little and you loved running around amongst all the noise and busy Aunts and Uncles.

Here you are with Papa and Gma Tanya (my parents) during our Christmas dinner? lunch? I can't remember... I think it was a lunch.

And, of course, your favorite activity for almost anywhere you went. A calculator.

Christmas 2006
We spent Christmas 2006 with Daddy in Utah! It was your first real trip anywhere that you would remember and you had a lot of fun.

But - first, we had a lot to do before we left. The above photo was from visiting Papa and Gma Tanya to open some presents at their house. Here you are with your first one, smiling away. It's so weird to me how old you look here compared to the previous year. You had grown up a lot. :) (I also love your little white and pink Nikes in this shot, you loved wearing them and they were so cute on you. Gma Bonnie bought them for you and you came home wearing them, they were SO cute!)

We also stopped off at Grammy & Pa's house in McMinnville. This was your Christmas Dress that Grammy made for you this year. The only good shot I got of you in it was this one in front of Grammy & Pa's tree. You would dart out of the way... made it a little difficult. :) I regret not taking off the pink socks...

Here's a video of one of the days we were there and waiting for Daddy to get off of work:


The Aunties Taught Me This! from Melissa Wagner on Vimeo.

While in Utah we stayed with Grandma Cole in her apartment by Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City. She left to spend Christmas with my Aunt Laurie and Uncle Wes in Neola, UT before Christmas day. So we had a little more early gift opening so Grandma Cole could be there when you opened your gifts from her. You were so excited to get this Dolly and quilt that she had made for you. Though you didn't quite understand who had given it to you... check out this video:


From SANTA! from Melissa Wagner on Vimeo.

We were able to get a family shot this year of the four of us at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake. It was so beautiful and lit up everywhere. Unfortunately, the person who we asked to take the photo ended up taking one with the camera focused on all the lights! It still turned out okay and we were happy to have a family shot. :)

You and Duncan always had so much fun with Daddy, especially at this age. I love this shot that I took of the three of you the morning that we were to fly back home to Oregon.

Christmas 2007
That year we went to see the lights again and Daddy took this cute shot of the three of us. I wish we would have been able to go this year, but, being 8 months pregnant with Rachael this year it didn't end up working out, too much walking without bringing on contractions. We will definitely go next year though. :)

You and Daddy made Jello shapes on Christmas Eve and had a GREAT time eating them up. While I didn't participate in the eating I took photos and you and Duncan "taste tested" enough to feed an entire country.

This is the first Christmas AFTER the big hair cut. Can you tell? (I mean apart from the fact that you look like a muppet...) Nonetheless, you were cute as a button and VERY excited to open your Christmas Eve gift. :)

And, of course, Christmas morning! Duncan was still asleep. You were stoked beyond belief to have found that Santa left you and Duncan a Dora and Boots table and chairs! And look! The milk is gone and the cookies were eaten! Such excitement!

Later that day we went over to Mimi & Papa's (daddy's parents) house for a Christmas meal and more presents opening. Mimi took this photo of the four of us.

You saw both the Macey's Santa and the RC Willey Santa for Christmas of 2007, but I can't find either scanned version on the computer. I'll have to find the hard copies and scan them in when I get a chance. Regardless, there are a lot of good ones here. :)

Good memories, good Christmases, and - most of the time - a good girl! ;) We're looking forward to this Christmas and the many Christmases to come. :)

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