The Cahill Family: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, I cannot believe it is already 2011! This past week and a half seems like a blur due to our recent events (another blog post on that later) and Christmas seems like ages ago! But I will try my best to remember all of the fun and blessings we received around Christmas day.

Christmas Eve we started out by going to Meema's house. Meema is Paul's grandmother, Linda's mother, and every year she hosts Christmas Eve lunch at her house for her children and grandchildren and now great grandchildren! Since I have started working as a nurse, I have pretty much worked every Christmas Eve and have been unable to partake in this special family gathering. Needless to say, I was thrilled to be able to go this year, especially since it was Mary Frances' first Christmas! When we got there, Meema and Paul's aunts were getting the food ready and just talking. We so enjoyed hanging out with everyone and Mary Frances enjoyed meeting members of the family she had not met yet. We were able to stay for lunch and then headed home as I was supposed to work Christmas Eve night and wanted to take a nap before a night at work :) I got called off of work (so wonderful!) and we were able to eat dinner with my family that night at Houston's. Houston's is one of my favorite restaurants and that was Mary Frances' first time to eat dinner there! Once we got home, we were able to get a few pictures of Mary Frances in her Christmas pj's and her stocking before putting her to bed.

Hanging out with Aunt Cheryl

and Aunt Sandra

With Meema before total meltdown

Christmas Day we spent the morning at our house and then the rest of the day with the Cahill's at their house. We woke up at our usual time of 7am, fed Mary Frances and went out to see what Santa had brought! Paul started us off by reading the Christmas Story of Jesus' birth and then let Mary Frances dig into her gifts. She got into tearing the paper and it was fun to see her play with the presents. Of course she tested everything by putting it into her mouth :) We went up to the Cahill's after Mary Frances' morning nap and being the late sleepers they are, they had just finished opening their stockings. Perfect timing! So, we were able to hang out with them while we opened presents. Mary Frances loved all of the attention and new toys she got! We are definitely excited about the outdoor swing. It will be fun to use while we are outside playing with Maggie. We had a wonderful Christmas day meal that Linda made and enjoyed our day with them. What made it even better was that it started snowing that afternoon! What a special first Christmas for Mary Frances! This was the first White Christmas Atlanta had seen since 1882!

tree and presents

Reading about Jesus' birth

I like this!

Playing at the Cahill's

Opening gifts

Watching the snow with Mimi

Playing on Uncle Jim's phone

Family picture!

We celebrated Christmas with the Mercer's that next day, Sunday, and enjoyed a day with snow! While we spent most of the time inside, we did get a few pictures in the snow :) Mom made our favorite meal, chicken squares with asparagus, baked pineapple, and Laura's salad. Yum! We had a great time with a fire, opening presents and just talking. Here are the last few pictures from our Christmas celebration!