Emma's Best First Christmas: Part 1

It is time to recap the month of December and all of our Christmas activities.  Emma had the best, first Christmas EVER if I do say so myself.  I did have a little bit of hope that she would be excited about all of the hoopla associated with Christmas, but she didn't get it this year.  Oh well- there is always next year :).

We started celebrating Christmas the first weekend of December by taking Emma to the Christmas parade in Arlington.

The parade started and ended with Santa Claus :).

Our favorite part (and probably Emma's too) was the motorcycle riders.  My dad has some of these scooters so it was fun to see them ride them around fast and do their "tricks".

As witnessed by this picture- Emma and I were having a great time in our front row seats that we snuck up and grabbed :).  

 Next up, it was time to light the Christmas tree.  Its no Rockefeller Christmas tree, but its a pretty cute Christmas tree for Arlington.

While Wes was watching/taking pictures of the Christmas tree, Emma and I were not too far away lining up to take our picture with Santa.  This was the best.  We didn't have to go to the mall and wait in a huge line.  Emma and I were probably 10 families back and it went super quick- which was good because it was already well past Emma's bedtime.  It was also pretty low stress and we were able to get as many pictures as we wanted.  As a bonus, Emma didn't freak out when she sat on Santa's lap like we both feared.

And now for a big smile.  

Just in case you were wondering- her outfit earned her TONS of compliments.  I mean what is cuter than a baby, a baby dressed in a cute Santa outfit :).

Our next Christmas activity involved making our Gingerbread house.  We tried to let Emma get as involved as possible.  Here she is putting the gumdrop on the path leading up to the house.

Uh oh, Emma do I see you sneaking candy??

And this is the face we got when we took away said candy.  Poor baby.

Here is the finished product.

And a close up :) I am pretty proud of what the boys, Emma and I accomplished.

We were really feeling the Christmas spirit so up next, it was time to make sugar cookies.

While we were busy rolling out the dough, Emma was finding herself getting in some trouble doing the dishes :).

And the finished product, so yummy yummy.

It was safe to say, we were feeling the Christmas spirit heading into the holidays.  Up next, Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.