Naomi's 1st Christmas

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”(Luke 2: 9-12)



Christmas time is always special because we get to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. We share this time with our dearest family and friends and enjoy the spirit of giving and glad tidings. This Yuletide 2009 was extra special because Richie and I had our babygirl Naomi to spend it with. If just for one moment, we tried to relive Christmas through the eyes of a child. Our child. =)

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Cornerstone Candlelight Service at 8pm with Grandma Lily, Tita Eva and Tita Angeline. Naomi spent her time at the nursery. Since there weren't any parties for us to attend that evening, we started our own family tradition and opened gifts with just the three of us. That night, Naomi slept as peaceful as an angel.



We took our time getting ready during Christmas morning and started off the festivities in San Jose. After stopping by to visit Mimi's godsister Cathleya, we made our way to the Blasing's home. Tita Berna, Uncle Andrew and cousin Andy have the house covered in Holiday decorations! The perfect place for the little ones to explore and experience the joy of Christmas - up close and personal with lots of fun moving musical toys!

From Mimi's 1st Christmas

The real fun began when Mimi's cousins Andrea and Meleia showed up =) Ninang Jasmine bought them reindeer headbands... These girls are too cute!





After all the adults exchanged Secret Santa gifts and all the kids opened their presents, we left San Jose and headed back to the East Bay. Our first stop was Pinole to enjoy the presence of Richie's immediate family. Everyone had been waiting for little Mimi to show up so we could open all of the gifts together. Even at only 7 months old, Naomi sure knew how to rip the giftwrap off her presents!



Next, we drove to Hercules to Naomi's Auntie Genina and Melissa's house to sing Christmas carols. All of the kids wore their reindeer antlers and we all sang merrily to the strum of Uncle Lin's guitar.



Check out Mimster =) .... looking like she's singing along and feeling the music in her heart and soul!



The following day, I took a picture of Mimi in front of our wall of cards:



Then, I gathered all of Naomi's loot and spread it out on the bed. WOW! Thank you soooo much to everyone that showered our little princess with all the toys, clothes, books, gadgets and gizmos... a plenty! She's got whozits and whatsits galore! Look who's smiling now =)

From Mimi's 1st Christmas

Over the next couple of days after Christmas, we went to Pinole to spend time with baby Arabella and the Joaquins before they headed back to Southern California. Mimi and Bella had a lot of time to bond. Bella is crawling all over the place and Naomi thinks that everything has to go in her mouth!





Bella can be a little aggressive at times and Naomi was a little taken aback by her cousins forward demeanor. A couple time Bella tried to reach out and touch Mimi... which would end up with Naomi crying out for "Help!" I think Bella just wanted to squeeze Mimster's cute chubby cheeks... just like everyone else =) To keep a little bit of space between them, we let Bella roam around on the carpet and Mimi played in the activity center that Grandma and Grandpa bought especially for the girls.



Mimi used to be a little camera shy, but with all the Christmas spirit in the air, she was really hamming it up!



I know Naomi won't remember much about her first Christmas when she grows up, but Richie and I surely will. I'm glad that she'll be able to look back on the pictures and see what a wonderful time she had with all!

From Mimi's 1st Christmas