Gwen's First Christmas

We're feeling very lucky this year because Gwen has just brought so much happiness to our little family. It was fun to have her so interactive and animated for her first Christmas.  Justin and I reminisced about last year when I was 38 weeks pregnant and how excited we were for Christmas 2011 because our little one would be here (and almost a year old!).  It seemed so far away to us...

...yet, here we are!  My two babes, Christmas morning 2011:

We wrapped all of her presents in tissue paper, so they would be easy for her to unwrap.  Don't let the picture fool you, she tore off a tiny piece of paper and played with it.  The rest of the unwrapping still took some help from us.

Here she is, playing with her first present - an animated Leap Frog book.  It reads the book aloud to her as she turns the pages.  Great in theory, but ends up being a tad annoying for mommy and daddy when she keep opening and closing, opening and closing... heh! Oh well, she'll grow into it.

My Pal Violet was by far her favorite toy.  We programmed it on the computer to say her name (she completely lights up when it does this), and incorporate her favorite songs, color, animal, etc into play.  See that dress draped over the arm of the couch?  Justin picked it out as a surprise - oopsie for not getting a better pic, but it's so cute!

Gwen loves Violet <3

You can't tell here, but it started to snow outside while she was opening presents!

We made sugar cookies with a special "g" for the little lady.  I still can't bring myself to eat it! hah

We headed over to Nana & Papa's house to spend the rest of the day with family - and more presents!  I made Gwen's headband out of scraps from her Christmas stocking.