a christmas of firsts

Since it's been over a month now, I wanted to share some of our pictures from Christmas. I didn't do the best job taking pictures this year...between all the kids' excitement and baby Zoë's needs, I guess I just had my hands full. Or I was completely in the moment. It was a bit of both, I'm sure.

It was our first Christmas in our new house. It was Zoë's first Christmas. It was the first year it felt like Willa and Cameron both "got it." It was our first time having Christmas dinner with friends.

It was a good Christmas. 

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^^christmas eve day. there were a lot of pairs of christmas jammies that needed to be worn.^^

^^ready for christmas eve dinner. willa's learning how to pose, for sure.^^

^^dan pulled together a fantastic christmas eve dinner. we bought trout and crab cakes from our local "gourmet" grocery store, and they were absolutely delicious. it felt fancy without being a ton of work. and the kids love seafood, so the whole family was happy!^^

^^the kids were predictably SUPER excited on christmas morning. they got up a little before 6, and i was (predictably) grumpy about getting out of bed that early after being up in the night with zoë. cameron had a superhero-themed christmas: he got a lot of batman and superman items. willa was delighted that santa brought her the unicorn ice cream maker of her dreams (the "unicone" if you want to get one...). she'd also asked for a "frozen ice castle," so dan and i got her the lego version. she embraced the challenge of following the directions and built it in just a few days. zoë slept through most of the festivities, but santa did bring her some new cloth diapers!^^

^^our good friends (who happened to have also moved from our old neighborhood to our new one around the same time!) generously invited us over for christmas dinner. they made paella, which i've never had for christmas before, but it seemed like a perfect choice. the kids had fun playing with their friends and sitting at a "kids' table" for dinner.^^

^^dan's coworker has been super kind and given zoë a bunch of stylish outfits (in stark contrast to the one-piece pajamas i always dress her in!). this christmas emsemble was so darn cute.^^