It’s a Merry Christmas at Marissa’s
This may be a rather long post, as I haven’t posted all month and A LOT happened this month.
A few days after we returned from LA from Thanksgiving, Todd’s parents arrived from New York to celebrate a very Matthews Christmas. We’ve been holly jolly all month at our house, kicking it off the first weekend in December. It was wonderful to have Mimi and Papa J visit. We went and got our tree as a big family and all decorated it together, then we were able to celebrate Christmas with gifts from under our fresh beautiful tree. Maisy was particularly fond of the tree. Every morning when we came down stairs, she’d ask to make the tree “Magical”. Then we’d let her turn on the lights.
Told you Maisy loves the tree
The family tree
Maisy placing the angel on our tree. The angel was used by my family since I could remember and is the same one my sister and I would trade years putting it on.
The Matthews had Christmas that Sunday. It gets more and more fun each year as Maisy gets older.
Maisy and Papa J entertaining us with a Christmas song
Merry Christmas, Mimi, Papa J and Steven!
We were lucky enough to get to celebrate Papa J’s birthday with him while he was out too!
Good news soon followed. Todd’s company, Heroku, announced that they had just been purchased by another company, Salesforce.com. Congratulations, Todd and Heroku!! Great work and wonderful news.
The girls in their Heroku shirts with Daddy
We did lots of fun things in December. We took Maisy to see Tangled which she, Todd and I really loved. It’s one of the best Disney films ever made. We went to Zoo Lights at the Oakland Zoo which seems to have become a tradition. It was a nice family event. We made it to the Zoo Lights after visiting Santa in the San Francisco mall. Santa was less than super jolly, was drinking Mountain Dew and charged us $20 for a photo, but it’s all worth it!
Santa with Maisy and Maren
Maisy refused to sit on Santa’s lap, but said it was fine for Maren to. We asked that she stand there and hold Maren’s hand to help Maren be brave, well, and we bribed her with a candy cane.
The day before I asked Maisy what she wanted from Santa. This is what she wanted.
Real wings so she can fly, the ones she has don’t really work- she’ll take me with her when she goes flying (so sweet).
Her Tinker Bell doll to talk to her because she doesn’t talk very well.
Her baby doll’s hands to open because they are always closed.
The baby to close her eyes because they are always open
and a baby who talks
a bib for her baby
a placemat for her baby
and sunglasses for her baby
and drum roll please….. An iPad for herself.
Since we had a long weekend together Todd and Maisy got to spend some quality time together. One morning while I was napping and they were drawing, I awoke to this beautiful drawing Todd had made of Maisy as a Christmas Elf.
Maisy the Sweetest Elf I’ve EVER seen
Todd and Maisy also got to work making a few new mustaches.
Todd and Maisy work on the ’staches
Maisy has gotten very articulate in her language and is also excelling at drawing. Here is a drawing of the Mean Queen and Maisy using red crayon on her new easel.
Maisy and the Mean Queen in red
Maren is growing growing growing! Her cries are not newborn sounds any longer. Her cry has a babbling sound to it. Some times in the morning I have to really listed to tell if it’s Maisy or Maren trying to get my attention. Maren has also discovered her hands and she loves marveling at them! She’s also quite chatty. She is wanting to sit up a lot. While laying down, she does little baby crunches trying to get up. She is still sleeping super well and only wakes once or at most twice a night. There is not rocking or cajoling her to get to sleep. We pretty much just put her in her crib and she goes to sleep. She is taking 2-3 naps a day. Some naps are 2-3 hours and some are only an hour. She loves bath time and watching her big sister. She is a little lover, she loves to smile and coo. Maren has really started to play with toys and can hold on to them and get them into her mouth. She has her 4 month shots later this week. Happy New Year, Maren! We wish you health :-)
Maren having a grand time watching her hand (she seems to watch her right hand more than her left)
Daddy and Maren
Christmas Eve was fun because we were all full of excitement AND it was my birthday! Maisy was sure to tell me happy birthday several times throughout the day, which was super sweet. Todd and the girls got me a necklace with with two M pendants and 2 birth stones, one for each girl. I also got a locket and a mani/pedi day. Thank you!!
Happy 33rd!
Getting Ready for Santa
Moving on to the main event, Christmas! We so enjoyed being home this year. It’s the first year Todd and I have been home for Christmas in almost 10 years! So happy we did. It was so nice to be in our own house and have a relaxing family Christmas without anywhere to go! We were very thankful and happy to join friends for dinner at Kevin and Marissa’s. Yum!
We all must have been super good this year, because Maisy got an easel she’s wanted for quite a while with a Terrance and a Tinker Bell doll too. Maren got a kick and play gym that will grow with her. Todd and I must have been so super extra good, because Santa left us an XBOX with Kinect! It is so much fun! My favorite game is Dance Central. Todd and I battle on the regular now. Sorry, no pictures of that!
Christmas after Santa arrived, but before presents were opened
Maren trying out her new toy
In honor of Todd’s mustache interests, I got him this fancy pint glass.
Todd’s beer mustache
The girls got too many toys for words. It’s fun, but also overwhelming. I got two HUGE plastic bins to put away older toys in the attic for a bit to make room.
After Christmas chaos before the big clean up
Maisy playing with her Kitchen from Grandpa
Maren playing with her new doggie from Nana and Papa
Can’t wait to do it all again next year!
Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and the year ahead is full of happiness, peace, love and health.
Much love, Todd, Becky, Maisy and Maren
