Our Little Miracle: First Christmas!!!!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and I was so excited to celebrate Christmas with our sweet little girl. While Harper Kate didn't require lots of toys for Christmas, Jarod and I started our Christmas shopping for her the day after Thanksgiving at Pottery Barn! We decided to get her one of the Anywhere Chairs to practice sitting in. She can't quite hold her head up yet, but we thought it would be a great practice chair.
The weekend before Christmas we celebrated Christmas with Jarod's family. We all hung out for the weekend, spent great time being together, opened packages and enjoyed lots of yummy food! Harper Kate got some really cute clothes, great books and a couple small toys she could reach for, which were all wonderful. The best thing about being with the Pardue clan though is the quality time we all spend together. It's crazy chaos most of the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I truly consider myself so blessed to have an amazing second family that thinks and treats me as their own. I'm horrible & got no pictures from the whole weekend!
Then, we came home for a few days and headed back to Birmingham for actual Christmas weekend. Christmas Eve we spent hanging out with my family, then we all got ready and went to church Christmas Eve night. I love the Christmas Eve candlelight service and, more importantly, showing Harper Kate off. :) We also have another tradition where my parents best friends, the Clintons, come over to my mom and dads and we all eat dinner together. I look forward to that every year as well because I don't get to see them very often and love catching up with my other "siblings". Carrie and I had matching pajamas made for Whit and HK, so we got them ready for a few pics before bedtime. :).
Christmas is a HUGE tradition in my family. Even at 30 years old we still put out treats for Santa, wear matching pjs ourselves....we know it's lame, and fully admit it, but we continue it anyway. Christmas morning we wake up, excited and ready to open packages. Jarod and I were so excited to let Harper Kate see her first "Santa present"! I loved playing Santa, setting Harper Kate's chair up the night before. But....Harper Kate was not feeling great and fell asleep almost right after we showed her the chair...oh well, we still got some pictures of her. My family spent the day watching Whit play with his new toys and HK relaxing on her mat looking at herself in the mirror that Aunt Carrie and Uncle Nate got her. It was perfect! Aunt Mae Mae and Aunt Kitty gave Harper Kate her first baby doll. It's a classic, and so soft to put in Harper Kate's arms. Christmas night we go to my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Dave's house with my cousins and grandparents for a wonderful dinner and exchange of gifts with my grandparents.
Goodness, Christmas was very overwhelming, but so much fun. I wouldn't trade any of our wonderful family events for anything!!! I'll leave you with some pics from the holiday.