Ohh I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...

...only a hippopotamus will do!

I am having a hard time accepting that the holidays are over. It seems that it went by faster than any year before. Kenley and I listened to Christmas music on the radio each morning as we drove to baby school. We would light up our Christmas tree, mantel and banister each night... I was so excited to celebrate Kenley's first Christmas (even though I knew she wouldn't remember any of it.) Oh! Thanks to Erika we made Kenley's hand and foot print ornaments. They are so cute, I can't wait until next year when we pull them out and see how big she has gotten. We had a little extra of the clay so we decided to do Gibbs' paw print. Needless to say he hated every second of it. Can you see the terror in his eyes?

I think that a few of us (myself included) got a bit carried away with buying things for Kenley this year. She even got two stockings.

It was truly a Kenley Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, my parents and sister came in to town early in the morning. I was still at work and Andrew had just gotten home from his night shift and was in bed. When Kenley and I got home, we played with her new blocks and she investigated all the gifts under (more like around) the tree.

We spent the day reading books, playing with Kenley's blocks, watching movies like White Christmas, Elf and of course A Christmas Story. We woke Andrew up in the late afternoon and had our traditional german dinner, brats, potato latkes (which aren't really that german) and homemade applesauce. It was so delicious. That Wegman's, they sure do sell a good brat. Everyone then opened up one gift, we all got new slippers! Yay!

Christmas morning was very leisurely. We all woke early thanks to Kenley and enjoyed coffee while we waited for Andrew to get home from his night shift. Mom had made cinnamon rolls, we made this strata dish the night before and popped it in the oven and we had a fruit salad. It was so delicious. So much bread it put us in a food coma before we even opened any gifts.

See all those gifts behind her and the cow? Majority of them are for Kenley. I know. Overboard, indeed. But we loved every single one of them.

Howdy the bouncy cow -- so cool!

Ice skate booties!

Since Andrew was working nights over Christmas and slept during the day, Gibbs was all about my dad. He loves Dad since he always gets pieces of whatever Dad eats but he took it to a new level a couple times.

Dad and his bff Gibbs. He would not let him nap.

Gibbs wanted to check his facebook while Dad was on the computer.

Christmas night, we had braciole, homemade fettucini alfredo and salad. It was, once again, delicious. Kenley got her very first popper, which is a tradition for the Paradise family during Christmas.

Kenley did not win the contest of "who would sweat through their crown first."

Saturday, I had a great birthday-- full of shopping, Five Guys and a movie. It was a really nice holiday weekend and I was sad when Sunday came. I enjoyed Kenley's first Christmas so much, I cannot wait for next year and the years that follow, when she will understand more.

Hope everyone had great holiday season! Happy new year!