Once I realized what just happened I screamed for Eric who came running to find me dry heaving in the bathroom with A waiting patiently for help in the tub. Poor Eric is blind as a bat with no glasses on and asked me if A wet the bed. In the midst of me gagging I was able to get out, no don’t walk into his room! The rest of the night resulted in him waking up every hour getting sick, along with me falling out of bed to get the trash can, all while landing on the dog who was sleeping on the floor. I could seriously write a whole post just about those few hours but, eww, lets not and move onto happier things like Christmas.
That Saturday since none of us really got a good night sleep we spent majority of the day on the couch. After sleeping most of the day A woke up like nothing ever happened so we decided we would all get ready and go to church. After service we packed PJs for the boys and went around looking at Christmas lights and then carried the sleeping nuggets up to their beds.
I was so happy we made it through the night with everyone snuggled in bed and whatever virus made it’s way in was now left behind. It was a great present to receive when the nuggets slept in until almost 8am on Christmas morning.
We ventured downstairs to our tree and found a special note from our elf, Alvin. For as long as I can remember a tradition growing up was always to sit around the tree and read Luke chapter 2 before opening any of our gifts. We’ve carried that tradition over to our little family and have done it with A since his first Christmas. We decided this year to put a twist on our elf friend and have him incorporate the importance of taking time to reflect on why we celebrate Christmas.
I was happy when both of them sat and listened and shared in this special little moment.
Then, a Christmas miracle happened! Both nuggets sat for .2 seconds, looked at the camera, and allowed me to snap the quickest picture before it all vanished. I don’t know when another opportunity like that will happen again so for now I am cherishing this moment.
About half way through opening gifts, they spotted the carrots and cookies they left out the night before and decided they wanted the leftovers. Stale cookies and dried out carrot sticks sounds like a great Christmas breakfast. Luckily my mom was on her way over and made a delicious breakfast that blew Santa’s leftovers out of the water.
Haha, once Coaty got his stocking he was on guard making sure no one took his treats. He was great the whole day with everyone petting him and the kids flopping on him, as much as he gets under my feet he’s seriously such a great dog. I’m really sad I forgot to take a picture of him in his awesome Christmas sweater near the tree, so I might have to improvise and sneak one in there before our tree comes down.
In between breakfast and everyone coming over we had some down time to get things ready. The nuggets both took amazing naps which made me one happy momma, because we all know what happens when they don’t nap right. Later on that night I tired to get a picture with the both of them but that turned into a face grabbing fest instead. They did great the whole day but towards the end you could tell they were getting tired and overwhelmed. Even I was looking forward to putting my PJ’s on and cozying up for the night.
Aside from all of the gifts, good food, and amazing company, my favorite memories are the small ones that ended up meaning the most. After little nugget opened up one of his gifts he came over to me and said “tant you” and gave me the biggest hug. It seriously melted my heart and almost brought tears to my eyes. Then, when we were opening our stockings Eric said, babe, I’m really sorry but I forgot to get something for your stocking. No big deal, I wasn’t really expecting anything. A quickly jumped up and said no momma, check your stocking we didn’t leave you out, I made you a card. I found the cutest homemade card that him and my mom did together and must have slipped it in my stocking a few weeks back.
The saying is so true, it’s not what’s under the tree that matters, it’s who’s around it.
I can’t believe this year is already coming to a close. We’ll be ringing in 2017 with some of our closest friends down in Philly. I’ll be back on here next week to kick off the New Year with a fun giveaway, so be sure to check back. I hope this year has been a memoriable one for you that was filled with happy memories. I can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store for all of us. Wishing you a very happy, healthy, blessed, and prosperous New Year!
