Yes, this Christmas post is just a bit late, and I'm tempted to just skip it, but why not string out the most wonderful time of year as long as possible, right? I must admit, our tree is still up, but at least I finally took the rest of the decorations down 2 weeks ago. While I was putting the Christmas stuff away, I saw my Valentine's stuff and thought I should jump start on the next holiday. So now I have a Christmas tree and Valentine's decor in my house. It holiday-palooza over here until Dave's home to help take down the tree. I guess I should just try to do it. How do I always digress? Ahhh! Back to my Christmas post!Instead of a long winded narrative about our Christmas season, I'll just post some pictures. The only motivation for me to do this is that these pictures will probably never be scrapbooked and so this is my only documentation that our family did in fact celebrate Christmas in 2007.
Surfin' Santa
One of my all-time favorite pictures of Anna!
This was my outfit when I was a baby. My mom played dress up with her while she was babysitting and did what she does best, had a little Anna photo shoot. Doesn't she look adorable? After all of the posing, she needed to get some wiggles out, so out came Surfin' Santa! If you don't know what a Surfin Santa looks like, just imagine a little santa in a red one-piece swimsuit and sunglasses, swaying his hips on a surfboard catching an awesome wave all to the tune of the Beach Boys' Little Saint Nick. Surfin Santa can't ever be thrown away because it is a favorite among all of the Boyack grandkids. Here's a little video that shows off her sweet surfin santa moves.
And we danced to the grand piano's Christmas music. Anna loves to dance!
This picture of Josh Stohl was too cute to pass up. This picture will be cute in their wedding video one day.
Cute Cozy Cousins
Anna's other BFF Caroline getting cozy at Grandma's in their special chair.
Our Little Snow Puff
One of the benefits of Dave traveling around so much is that in Chicago, he was right by the H&M. Like the good husband he is, he went in and picked up a few things for Anna. My favorite is this adorable hat. He also got her the matching booties. This seriously is the only hat she'll actually keep on for at least a little while. And I must say that she looks pretty darn good in it!
A visist to Santa
Last year when Anna was only a few weeks old, she met Santa at Gateway. She really loved him then. When we went back again this year, she was not quite as content with the man in red. As soon as we walked over by him, she immediately turned her head and buried it into my shoulder, almost as if she was trying to hide so Santa wouldn't see her. Since a single shot with her and Santa was impossible, we made it a family pic. She kept her head forward the whole time and did not dare to even look at him. Then of course once we were done and a few feet away, she wanted to check this guy out and see what he's all about. Trust me Anna, this guy has got some good connections. You want to be on his good side!
7 Years
Dave and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. Yes, 7 years! And yes, we did get married young. (that's what everyone says when I tell them how long we've been married) Grandma and Papa watched Anna so we could go out to Fresco's and see my new favorite movie, Enchanted. There is such a thing as happily ever after...well, most of the time. ;)
Another Birthday Party
We celebrated all of the December birthdays with the Kellys (Anna, Mary, and Finn) so Anna got to celebrate her bday again! For every Kelly's 1st bday, it's a tradition to do this little test to see what the baby will go after and value in life. The choices are: Toys, the Gospel (Scriptures), Food (the cake), or Money (piggy bank). Everything was set out and then we put Anna down to make her choice. I totally thought she would go straight for the cute rocking horse, but instead she just sat there for a minute like, what are you guys looking at? Then she went for it...hesitated a little...and grabbed the piggy bank! Uh-oh boys, she's after the money! (Truth be told, I think she really just likes pigs. She always goes for the pig in any farm toys) So it looks like we better start saving our money. We had another fun party. Even with Anna not feeling so good.
Christmas Eve
After the Santa visit, Anna started to get sick. I'm not saying Santa gave her the bad cold, but maybe it was just payback. He's a tricky man. So poor little Anna was not too happy over the holidays. She was still a pretty good sport, but I knew she didn't feel well throughout it all. You can see it in her eyes, but she's a trooper and she still managed to have some fun at the Kelly and Boyack festivities on Christmas Eve.
First stop was the Kelly Christmas party where we had a yummy dinner and did the traditional nativity story. You really missed out on a good one, I mean, check out Dave as a wise man. You don't get better than that! Anna was baby Jesus, but it took some convincing for Crew and Titan to agree to this since she isn't a boy.
Next stop was the Boyacks. We had another yummy dinner and then we had a special guest. Santa! (Does he look kind of familiar?) It was only Caroline and Anna this year, and neither of them were very excited about this as you can tell. Santa was a good sport as always! ;)
Anna recovered from her Santa trauma when she opened her presents.
Christmas Day!
We started off the morning with Anna by our tree at home and tried to get her to open her presents. She was so sick, all she wanted to do was cuddle, and I was glad to cuddle her right back.
Then it was on to the traditional Boyack Christmas breakfast. Shredded Wheat, honey, whip cream, and warm milk. Sounds weird, but it's really good I promise. I've had this meal on Christmas morning for as long as I can remember!
Later that evening, we went to have a Christmas Feast with the Kellys at the Grand America.
This is how Anna felt about it at first. Although, this is before she saw her cousins and before she tasted the bread pudding!
Family photo by the tree
What a cute little package I found under the tree!
And we finished with dancing to the piano again. Anna loves to dance with Romey.
For the love of Bowling
A few days after Christmas, Ryan and Darcie invited us to their traditional bowling night. They go bowling on this day every year to celebrate their first date. Isn't that fun? Bowling was our 1st date activity too. And we were just shy of our 1st date 12 year anniversary by a few days, ours was the 23rd, but if you ask my mom it was the 27th. (She didn't know about the first one...oops! Sorry Mom.) See what a little game of bowling can lead to? Some pretty cute little girls, that's for sure.
Whew!
I am kind of ashamed to admit that I was kind of relieved when Christmas was over this year. It's sad because I have always la-la-LOVED Christmas. I think with everything going on and Anna getting sick, it was just kind of exhausting. As you can see, Anna felt the same way. I know with kids, it get busier, but I really hope I can always enjoy this holiday with our family and not get too stressed out. The traditions and spirit of the season are too fun to get uptight about. We did have a wonderful holiday season though and I am grateful we got to share with our families that we love so much.
And now we just want to take a nap!
Anna's first manicure (well actually, just nail painting)
And here we both are with our lovely new witches nails
And we ended the evening with a stop at the candy store and a quick stroll around for witch hunting. We only found a few because we were getting hungry and chilly. Thank you Romey and Sue for a fun witches' night out! 
Checking out the horses. Decided not to get them out for this. I didn't want Anna touching them since some kids in my ward got e-
