Christmas #1 - Our Las Vegas Celebration

BEFORE- Nice and orderly (notice the coordinated wrapping paper)

AFTER - utter chaos (and astonishment that Lily didn't eat alot more wrapping paper than she did)

We celebrated our own family Christmas yesterday before we head to Utah to celebrate with all of Elliott's family. As you can see from these pictures (and those in the slideshow at the bottom of this post) we all had an excellent time. Here are some highlights and lessons for next year:

* We had a complete haul of Christmas goodies for all of us, on a budget! Our splurge was the laptop and wireless internet, but beyond that all of the other presents came to under $100, I am sure of it. I had slowly accumulated toys and clothes throughout the year and even made several things for the girls (an apron for Ava, hand puppets for both, and tote bag for Lily).

* The best family present - a free vacation to San Diego! I managed to keep this a surprise from Elliott, so that made it even more fun. It all came about when I was visiting with my mom about the possibility of using her timeshare week to go to Sedona, AZ for vacation with the Kay family. In the end we decided to pass on the Sedona vacation (extra cost, lack of desire to haul the girls out into nature) but mom went ahead and surprised me by booking us something anyway - a week in San Diego. The best part if it, we will be able to celebrate Lily's first birthday in the same way we celebrated Ava's first birthday - at the San Diego Zoo. I have to admit, this might be a fun tradition to keep up!

* Ava is on overload for her presents I think (note to self - she doesn't need that many next year). Her favorites - the ladybug rocker that I bought for Lily at a garage sale; a play mixer for her toy kitchen and knock-off My Little Ponies both of which I got for a couple bucks at Walgreens). She also got a tricycle (garage sale find) that we will enjoy when the weather gets warmer.

* Elliott made waffles for a fun family breakfast for all of us. Yummy!

* That evening we went to Sunset Park to drive through their Holiday Lights display. Ava was a little cranky, but we pushed through. I think it will make for a nice family tradition for future Christmases (and I really enjoyed it; it took me back to my own Christmases past when we drove through our local park to see the lights.)