Emilia's first Christmas!

We just celebrated Emilia's very first Christmas! Christmas 2012 we spent in Idaho (like usual) and I was 28 weeks pregnant with our baby child!

This year we went to a different place instead of the usual McCall! We went and stayed at a condo in Coeur d'Alene. The condo was on the other side of the lake from town and up on the mountain! It was definitely a little out of the way and totally gorgeous!

We left home at about 5 morning so that Em would sleep in chunks of the 7 hour drive, and she did really well This is us at about 4 am and she was so exhausted!

About half way into our drive the sun finally started to come up!

 

The drive was pretty easy and we got to Coeur d'Alene before we knew it. The hard part was this: it was Christmas Eve and all we wanted was a stinking Christmas tree! We looked through out the entire friggin town and only one place had a tree! It was disgustingly over priced and 9 feet long! We drove in my car and there was no way that we could take a 9 foot tree! So after 4 hours of looking ( also the baby and I getting VERY cranky!) we settled on a fake tree! It was my very first fake tree... of my entire life. But at that point I was willing to draw a tree on a piece of paper and call it good!

 

Em was so helpful in putting up the tree! She just climbed right under and tried to help her daddy!

 

 

I mean look at those cheeks!!

 

We finally got it all up and it actually looked pretty good! The week before we went on our trip I had spent some time putting together home made ornaments. We had a few E's, some little feet, and a few h's and m's! It was a lot of fun but not something I want to make a habit out of!

 

 



She helped Hy open her very first presents (some were hers and some were not!) and loved tearing into everything!

 

 

Our little family before opening presents on Christmas morning

 

Me and our little sweetheart before opening presents and getting ready for the day! Super morning hair!

We were right on the lake and every night we had the most gorgeous sunsets! (sunrises I'm sure as well, but there was no way I was seeing any of those!)

 

 

Crazy mama and baby hair!

For the first few days, it was just the three of us and we had a blast exploring the town and just spending loads of time in the condo together. Emilia loved getting to spend all of that time with her daddy!

When we weren't driving into town or keeping the baby entertained (or feeding our faces like pigs) we built a gingerbread house! Before we left for our Christmas vacation, Hy had the great idea to make a gingerbread house instead of doing a puzzle like we usually do. When the idea started, Hy suggested using graham crackers and wafers. There was no way that the pastry chef in me was ever going to let that happen. So he made me a pattern and I made and baked all of the parts! We assembled the entire thing in the condo and it took FOREVER to decorate but we had a blast!

The day after Christmas my parents finally arrived and we opened each other's presents! We were spoiled and Em was SUPER spoiled!

Look at her baby feet! It wasn't too long ago that they were even tinier!

Hy and I were able to convince mom and dad to take Em for a few hours so that we could sneak away for a date! *It took zero convincing.

First we went out to eat at this great little Japanese place and stuffed our faces with super fresh sushi

It was sooo good.

After shopping around at all of the adorable little shops in town, my parents met us with our sweet girl and we did some more shopping!

 
We went out to eat as a family and Em loves eating at restaurants. So many things to look at and so many people to stare at.

A picture with my date after a fun filled day of being out!

After we got home that night, we decided to let the baby have at the gingerbread house! It was totally like a giant baby destroying a village. It was hilarious and adorable! She was growling and getting so excited!

She got soo messy and had a blast! We took this picture of a little candy cane chunk stuck to her thigh! I wanted to gobble her right up!

We had the best time ever and the views were so gorgeous!

This is my very favorite trip away every year and I can't wait until we go away some place else next year! Who knows what the year has in store for us, but I am excited to find out and hope that whatever changes are coming are for the very best!