Christmas Part 2 and more.

As promised. Here is part 2 of my Holiday madness update :) 

A couple of days before Christmas,  Ashton turned 9 months old. I usually try to do a post on its own with details of his growth as well as what new things he is doing.  December was the first month when I felt like I couldn't quite get a good picture of little Mr. active. 

Keith, Kay and I were chasing him around the living room trying to get him to sit still for pictures. 

I always heard that boys were different than girls.  More active and more mischievous.  I truly didn't know what was coming my way- ha ha!

9 MONTHS OLD. 

He is crawling everywhere.  He walks around with help from the furniture. From time to time feels adventurous enough to let go for a couple of seconds.

At his 9 months check up he was measuring 29 inches long and Weighted 21.7 lbs.

He wears diaper size 3 and 12 to 18 months clothes.

He is doing awesome and reaching all of his milestones.

He is starting to show more personality.  He is very funny. Full of energy and sadly still taking only cat naps.

Recently he started to do some dancing.  We ask him to dance and he starts dancing. haha.

He loves to "ride the horsey".  Meaning: Daddy will sit him on his belly and pretend he is the horsey.

He is not into baby food.  He likes grown up food.  Unless it is mashed potatoes, he won't eat anything that's pureed.  He is funny like that. 

The other day I was cooking while Keith and Kay entertained him in the living room.  Keith told me that Ashton kept trying to get in his carseat.  He decided to try to put him in the carseat and see what he would do.  Ashton sat in it. In the living room, All buckled up for like 30 minutes.  We all thought that was hilarious.

The things babies do!

Although I can talk about my son for hours and hours, I should probably move onto Christmas part 2

I found my Thanksgiving prep so much more relaxing by doing it the day before so I decided I would cook most of our Christmas meal on Christmas Eve. 

I was actually really glad that I did.  I ended up coming down with a really weird flu on Christmas Eve and didn't feel good at all for most of the night.   Every Christmas Eve,  it is tradition at our house that we all get Christmas pj's.  I think this is pretty standard for most families, right?  So anyways, we usually put on our brand new pj's, grab some hot cocoa and drive around the city looking at Christmas lights.

Although I did find energy to make the bags for our pj's-  I was too sick to go anywhere so we stayed home. We put on our pj's, baked Santa's cookies and then just kind of hung out around the Christmas Tree.

These are the bags I made for our pj's this year. 

Cookies for Santa.

The the fun began with Ashton trying to eat Santa's cookies- ha!

He spotted the cookies!

 He went around the table trying to figure out how to get to them.

 He grabbed one.

 One was not enough...

No more cookies for Ashton- 

Rejected!

To be fair, Ashton was not the only one being naughty on Christmas Eve.

As it started to get late, we decided to go to bed and let Santa do his thing.  

We all headed upstairs ready to go to bed.

I went back downstairs around 3 am. ready to stuff our stockings.  Only to find Kay passed out in the living room.  I guess she was trying to catch Santa in Action.  I was too upset to come back upstairs to get my camera and take a picture.  Keith thought it would've been a good one to add to her "file".

What can I say?

I have two very naughty kids.

~

Fast-forward to Christmas morning.   As expected, Kay was the first one to go downstairs.

She came into our bedroom and let us know that Santa didn't come and said:

 "Dad did a horrible job wrapping Ashton's presents!"- ha ha ha!

I made sure to remind her that Santa didn't come because of her naughty-ness trying to catch him in action. And... that it was a good thing her dad and I were prepared in case of an emergency ;)

-She just laughed.

We went downstairs to open presents.  I usually bring my camera with me but often times I don't really take pictures.  I usually just like to see their reaction as they open their presents.

I took this picture of Kay showing my awesome homemade bows.  Made of the same wrapping paper I used to wrap each gift.

Next Christmas I will make sure to post about how to make your own bows.  I hate store-bought bows.  They are so ugly.  These look pretty fabulous and make your present that much more special. 

I am very picky when it comes to my wrapping.  I like the presents to look good.

Like I said... I did not take too many pictures, but I made sure to take a picture of the awesome mug Kay got me. 

I love my polka dot mug!

~

Moving on to the dinner part. A very Mexican Christmas dinner.

ON THE MENU: 

Tamales

Pozole

Dulce de leche cheesecake

Virgin Margaritas.

Like I said... I prepared everything in advance so on Christmas day I just put everything together and set up the table. 

Here is what I came up with.  I spent very little on all of the decorative stuff. I usually wait until the last minute so I can get stuff on sale. 

 Dulce de leche cheesecake.

 Pozole

 Tamales

 Margaritas (Virgin, of course!)

 A slice of pure heaven! :)

Everything was very yummy.  We had a very nice Christmas dinner.

After we finished eating, we headed to the living room to hang out, watch the kids play with their toys and just plain relax in our pj's.

Every year I take the time to ponder on the reason for the season.  Feeling so much gratitude for everything The Lord blesses my family and I with.

As parents all we can ask for is that our children are happy and have a warm cozy home during the cold winter days.  The presents... are just the icing on the cake.

During the very late hours of Christmas Eve, I often like to stare at the Christmas Tree and take a moment to just say Thank you. 

I hope you had a very nice Christmas and overall Holiday Season.