Other Christmas Celebrations....

We actually had several other Christmas celebrations.

We went home to Ohio the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with my Mom, Dad, and sister's family. It was a GREAT weekend. We got to see lots of extended family, catch up with each other, see my sister's new house in Toledo, and let the kids play together. It was just great.

Danika got a new "kitchen" for Christmas from my Mom and Dad. My Mom made Dad put it all together the day before we came home so Danika could open it and play immediately. My Dad is STILL complaining about that job! :) All he kept mumbling through the three hours of assembly was something about this being DOUG's job.... :)

Here we are at "Christmas" at my parent's house.

We also had a major celebration with Doug's Mom's side of the family (the Andrews) on the 28th of December. It was a major celebration because it was the first time in years we were all together. And to add to the fun, we had 4 two year olds, 2 babies, and a 5 yr old in the house! Talk about chaos! This is Grandma with all the great grand-kids. (Believe me...this was the best picture out of ten....it is really hard to get that many kids to sit still!)

And here is the whole clan:

It was a great Christmas....we love you all!

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning!
We got to celebrate Christmas in Erie this year. It was such a fun year because Danika was finally old enough to really get into the whole thing. It was just a wonderful, wonderful day with family we love and adore. What a great way to celebrate the birth of Christ!

This is Danika first thing in the morning eating her toast before we opened gifts. She was SOUND asleep and we had to drag her little can out of bed so we could make it to Doug's parents on time for Christmas breakfast.

This is Danika with one of her Christmas gifts from us...a new doll....with HAIR! She was less than impressed that all of her baby dolls were bald, so we got her a dolly with hair. She LOVES her.

Danika got a stroller from Aunt Kristen and family for her dolly...she LOVES it and still pushes it all over the place EVERY day. :)

Papa (Doug's dad Dana) made Danika her own toybox for Christmas. It is just BEAUTIFUL and Danika adores it. As a matter of fact, she was immediately so possessive of it, that we couldn't even get a picture of Papa sitting on it with her because it was HERS and when he tried to sit down, she pushed him off. "Mine, Papa." Such a loving, sharing child I have. But she does love the toybox...it was such a gorgeous gift.

Papa made Alayna a baby cradle, and that was a huge hit as well. Here are all three girls with both Mimi and Papa.

After Mimi & Papa's house, we made our way over to the big "Bierer Family Christmas" with all of Doug's extended family. It was a wonderful afternoon...and Danika got a lovely pair of shoes that she immediately wanted to wear. It's quite the fashion statement with the PJ's dont' you think? I could have dressed her up, but she was so happy and cozy in those PJ's, I just couldn't bring myself to make her wear a fancy dress. So...PJ's all day, it was.

It was such a wonderful Christmas...but we all slept well that night! What fun!