E's First Christmas and Hanukkah

December has come and gone, and I can't believe it's only 2 weeks to E's first birthday!  Crazy.

We had such a fun first Christmas and Hanukkah with E.  She's an expert present-opener!  Here's how we spent it, in photos...

We took E to see Santa at the Macy's on 34th Street.  The decorations were amazing, and a great distraction while we waited in the (fortunately, very short) line.  E wasn't too happy about sitting on Santa's lap alone, but was friendly to the big guy while I held her.

We spent a week and a half upstate with my parents, and had so much fun with our family!

my parent's Christmas tree, including a Pinterest-inspired shot!

E was obsessed with this musical Rudolph stuffed animal.

E got sick a couple days before Christmas (and is still fighting whatever she got, poor girl!), but was so happy when we dressed her up in her Christmas Eve dress.  Seriously, I've never seen the girl so excited about a dress before--it was beyond cute.

My dad likes to go all out (an understatement) with the Christmas lights, and over the years has gotten his neighbors to go crazy, too.  This year the local news even came and interviewed them!  My sister and I counted up the cars one night, and estimated that about 150 cars a night came to see the street!  I told my dad it looks like Christmas lights threw up on his lawn...

He gives Clark Griswald a run for his money...

Opening presents on Christmas morning

I love using the Christmas tree to get that sparkly, pretty bokeh in the background of my shots.  I wish S would let me keep our tree up year-round so I could always shoot with it!


The weather in upstate New York was surprisingly mild, and we were able to play outside with some new presents on Christmas day!

Family picture!

We had a wonderful time--it was so nice being able to spend so much time with my parents, sister and brother.  E was the perfect age for a first Christmas!  How did you spend this holiday season?

xoxo