The final Christmas celebration

After visiting with Great Grandma we drove over to great Aunt Cindy's house to celebrate Christmas with the rest of Becky's extended family.

Ally was very excited to try a different kind of cracker and dip it in the traditional family cheese ball.

We thought the funniest thing was how cousin Jake was amazed that Ally could feed herself and eat without assistance. We wish we had a picture of his face, but as usual we focus the camera on Ally.

Ally received many very nice presents. Above she is reading the Napping House. Thanks Great Aunt Polly and family.

Cousin Mandy made Ally a fishing pole and magnetic fish. The line was not attached to the pole at first so Ally had lots of fun trying to spear (or beat) the fish, instead of catching them.

Ally really got into opening all of the presents. Becky and I were really touched to receive so many nice, thoughtful gifts for Ally. Thank-you to everyone.

Great Aunt Cindy gave Ally a new baby doll, and of course the dolly had to have a stroller. Since there was no stroller available, Ally improvised with her new princess carriage she received from Great Aunt Pam.

Just in case you are getting tired of seeing pictures of Ally - this is Poppy Dave, G. Uncle Jim (Polly's husband), G. Uncle Denny (Cindy's husband) and Becky crashed the picture. We looked and the 3 men were standing there, un-posed in identical positions, so Becky hopped in to imitate them and I snapped the picture.

Becky, Ally, Beth and I were lucky enough to spend the night at Cindy's house with Cousin Mandy. Mandy and Cindy put on a puppet show for Ally. I wish I had taped it, because the sound effects (laughter) were amazing. Ally loved the show.

After the show she got to go backstage and try on one of the puppets.

We had a wonderful fun filled week. It was a lot of traveling and by the time we got home we were really happy to be home. Ally was great, and we think she is an exceptional traveler. Except for the last night at Cindy's and the first night at my parents' house she slept thru the night all night every night. The road trips, which we were dreading were calm and uneventful. Ally actually slept in the car for a large portion of each trip. But in the end we were all ecstatic to get home, and agreed that next year we'd like to spend Christmas at our house, and invite everyone to come see us.

On a different note, I want to say that I love love love the dress Ally wore for the final Christmas celebration. I've had this dress for almost 2 years. Last year it was way too big, and I hoped all year she could wear it this year. It fit perfectly and as silly as it sounds it made me feel so good to have her wear that dress. I bought it before she was officially our daughter, and its one of the last things for her that I have that I "pre-bought". So its good to get past that, and it reminds me of the hope and faith I had that she would become our daughter, and as always I remember how lucky we are to be her mommy and mama.