The Vance's: Merry Christmas 2012

We love Christmas and try to celebrate it in every way during the entire month of December! Some of our favorite highlights:

It wasn't Lucy's first Christmas but the first one she didn't sleep though (I'll give her a break being only 5 days old on her first Christmas last year!). She loved the tree and ornaments but surprisingly left them alone most of the time. I remember having to constantly watch Carter when he was this age but Lucy seemed to be much more gentle. It was a pleasant surprise!

An attempt at a cute sibling picture but turned into a fake looking hug and glare at the camera. They really do love each other....a lot!

We went to Swanson's Nursery one weekend to visit the reindeer. It is such a beautiful garden and nursery. We ended up spending almost 2 hours there walking around, looking at all the decorations and having some hot chocolate. So fun!

One night (well many nights actually, but the one we took a picture of) we took the kids out for a drive to look at Christmas lights. It was so fun to pop some popcorn, get some hot chocolate, wear Christmas PJ's and drive around town! It was also a great opportunity for Matt and I to figure out the roads in Bothell without worrying about getting too lost.

Christmas Eve we decorated our sugar cookies! This was actually like 7am since the kids woke up so early and we figured we'd just sugar them up so they'd have more time to burn it off before nap time!

Then we got dressed into our Christmas clothes! Love my little candy cane.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family at our house. The kids got to open up their presents from my brother and sister-in-law. Lucy loves her new baby! She carries her around everywhere, gives her hugs and kisses and puts her in her new stroller to go for a "walk." Such a good little mama!

Carter was always ready to "help" everyone else open up their presents too.

Carter is still obsessed with all things pirate. His big request was for a pirate ship this year. My brother went out and bought the biggest pirate ship he could find...a new pirate tent! It's awesome and the perfect hide-out for Carter when he wants some alone time (or time to play with the IPad without Lucy bugging him).

Christmas morning before all the chaos began.

One of Lucy's favorite gifts was her new water bottle.

Carter loves to read and got many new books. He decided to stop opening presents for a while and just read. It was the perfect break in the morning for the adults to grab some coffee, clean up the room and just relax a little.