Christmas has come and gone but the memories will last forever. Maya had a blast and was so into the spirit of it all this year. We adopted a family from church this year that consisted of a 18 year old girl and her 1 year old daughter. We all had a great time shopping for clothes, toys, food, etc for them but the best part was seeing their faces when we dropped everything off. What an awesome feeling to be able to help.
We started Christmas Eve off by going to church at 3. We tried to get there early to get a seat, but Scott got out of work late, so luckily my mom went and got us seats. It was an AMAZING service that included candles for everyone, a donkey, sheep and Simon Estes performing Silent Night. After church we adventured to great-grandma's house. We had a great time spending time with her and Maya loved searching for the cats. It was sad to go as holidays are extra rough on us all, but it was getting late and we still stuff to do before bedtime.
When we got home Niki and my mom came over and we opened all our gifts from each other. Maya got lots of loud toys (thanks again guys) but loved every minute of it. After they left we had to get the cookies and milk ready for Santa but make sure to "put them in a place that the puppies couldn't get them" says Maya.
Christmas morning was so amazing. To see Maya's face as she had to patiently wait on the stairs while daddy got the camera ready. Then to see those eyes light up as she saw the gifts from Santa...priceless. She did very well and made sure to say thank you to Santa after she looked at every gift. I would say her favorite is a Barbie laptop - she always says that she is "doing work". Later on Christmas day Uncle Greg, Aunt Lori, Robert and Jenny came to visit. It was great to spend time with them. We got some great family pictures that I will post soon.
December 26Th we headed to Arizona for a family vacation. On our trip was Niki, Ajdin (Niki's boyfriend), Mom, Paul, Rachele & Matt (Paul's kids) and our family. Our "adventure" to Arizona was just that - an adventure!!! Started out with a 4 hour drive to the airport (should take 3 but the roads were horrible), followed by a delayed flight out of Kansas City and out of Denver to only be followed by a disaster at the car rental place. In the end we got to our wonderful ALoft hotel in Tempe at mid-night. Such a long day but we all were in good spirits as we had 5 days to relax. The next day everyone else arrived and we checked in at the Kierland in Scottsdale. It was a very beautiful hotel - would recommend to all. We went shopping, took a H1 adventure through the mountains, went on a shooting adventure, got massages - and more than anything just spent some quality time with each other. Each night we would sit out by the fire pit and just unwind. Perfect way to end a wonderful day and trip!!!
On final thing - Maya no longer has a crib in her bed! This was both a very exciting yet emotional step for all of us, especially me. I was OK while picking out the bunk beds and bedding but once the crib was down and out of her room all the emotions, memories, etc hit me like a ton of bricks. My baby is no longer a baby. She no longer even has a crib in her room - she is in a twin bunk bed. We put it up last night and she loves it. She helped me and Scott build it and loves her new Hello Kitty bedding. Thanks great grandma for getting the bed for her for Christmas - she is already asking when her "friends" can come stay the night :)
Overall, Christmas was wonderful for all of us. It was hard to not see any of the Sprenkel family, however, hopefully we will see them soon. We got to experience the joy in Maya's face as she saw and felt the true Christmas spirit & got to spend some very valuable time with family members. The absences of dad was felt by all and always will be. I love and miss you dad but know you are with us, even when we cant see you.
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