Christmas Day

Please forgive this very long post, but we had so much to do Christmas Day and I don't want to leave anything or any one out :)

Libi was so excited for Christmas-- she couldn't even fall asleep until nearly midnight!

Santa left these cool PJ's for her on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning he left her stocking out in front of her bedroom.

She loved dumping it out on Jammy and Granpa's bed and seeing all of the treasures that he left for her.

Santa had to really work to fit everything into the stocking, so Granpa had to help yank some of the stuff back out.

She is a most enthusiastic gift opener saying, "Wow" or "Amazing" to nearly everything. This princess DVD is foreshadowing for her Princess themed Birthday party in a few weeks.

She was also really excited that Santa brought her more big girl panties-- even at the North Pole they know that Libi is doing really well with this venture.

Libi loves using Daddy's flashlight so Santa brought her one of her own!

Another big hit from Santa were these binoculars which make her look like Wall-e :)

Tobee was very chill this morning-- enjoying some time on the balcony before we headed down to open gifts.

Christmas breakfast consists of cookies (which we all have in our mouths so excuse the bad 3 generation photo.)

Again today Libi was a gift opening assistant.

We all got really nice gifts-- Santa was really good to all of us!

Perhaps my favorite item of the year was our first official preschool present.

It was all hand-made including the card and gift wrap and I absolutely loved it!!! I can't wait for more Libi gifts as she gets older.

We had to take several breaks so that Libi could play with things or have a cookie to nourish herself.

After a bit Libi got tired of unwrapping things so we all pitched in.

Libi got a Cabbage Patch doll from Aunt Linda and Libi pointed out that Daddy was on the back of the package-- this got huge laughs from me (he did kinda look like that with his bed-head.)

Granpa's official objective was to open all of the child-proofed toys. He did an excellent job!

Jammy was thrilled to get her Libi album again this year-- Mommy was thrilled to get it done in time.

Tobee was quite a trooper during the events-- she even helped shred some of the unwanted boxes and tissue.

Santa brought Libi lots of new dress up stuff including princess outfits and shoes which she couldn't wait to put on...

but the big gift this year was Libi's very own camera!!!

Once it was out of the package she wasted no time in taking some snapshots!

Daddy's favorite gift this year was one he had been lusting after for quite some time....

a Slanket!!! I got one too which at first I was a bit confused about, but let me tell you that thing is fabulous!!! It keeps you nice and warm but your hands are free for things like blogging on your computer :)

Libi is hoping that she will get her own Slanket soon, but for now she snuck under mine.

Our next adventure for the day was Grammy and Grampy's house.

There were lots of presents for Libi-- which she found really exciting!

At this point in the day she was getting very tired, but she combated that by not listening to her parents and being a bit of a wild child!

One of her favorite gifts from Grammy and Grampy was this viewfinder which has animals on it. She enjoyed having Grampy show her how it worked and then showing all of us how to use it.

Grammy also got a very special photo gift from Libi which she appeared to like :)

Aunt Andrea and Aunt Violet gave Libi some really amazing gifts too! Her favorite was the tub of dinosaurs and a dino sweatshirt to wear while she plays with them.

It was so nice to get to spend so much time with Andrea and Violet at our family events today!

Gizmo even got some presents, which Libi took the liberty of testing. Guess what? They work!

Grampy had some extra gifts for Libi-- one that she had to try immediately was a chocolate lollipop. Thanks Grampy!!

Grampy even pulled out his Santa hat for some photos before we left for nap.

We finally got Libi to nap around 2 p.m. which meant that we were really late for the Limon family celebration in Palmdale.

To make up for our lateness, Libi dressed up in one of her cutest outfits.

One of the really fun things about Junior and Anne's house is that it is filled with ways to make music. These drums meet you at the front door and then in the family room there is a keyboard, which you will see later. Libi (and the rest of the family) spent a lot of time playing the drums and dancing to the rhythms.

The cousins all have such fun together-- here Bridget and Libs took Addy the dachshund for a walk.

There were lots of good family photos taken tonight. Some of my favorites: Ron and I,

Mara and Andrea,

and the official cousin picture. Many years ago the Limon cousins did a shot like this on some stairs and whenever they are all together they re-do it. The last time it was taken was at our house when Libi was less than a year old. It is really fun to see how "big" the cousins get from photo to photo.

All was fine until someone put this chicken that makes a horrid noise into the mix, then Libi wanted nothing to do with smiling or posing any more.

Anne had a great idea to take a whole family portrait. Here are the Limons: Arthur, Mara, Logan, Travis, (soon to be Limon) Christina, Cameron, Victor, Ann-Marie, Bridget, Jose, Anne, Jordan, Amanda, Jacob, Cris, Ron, Andrea, Violet, Ron, Heather and Libi.

One serious pose was pretty much our limit, so here's the silly one!

After a rousing gift exchange game it was time for the kids to open their gifts. Libi got more fun stuff-- we are going to need a bigger house for all of her toys!

The hit of the party were these games from Arthur which everyone had to try. Libi was amazed at what her Uncle Jose could do!

The evening rounded out with more music at the keyboard. Cousin Amanda let Libi compose a masterpiece using the headphones so the rest of us were spared.

Travis and Bridget also wanted to make some music-- what a fun family day!