Christmas morning, one of the happiest mornings of the whole year. I can still see my boys smiling faces as they ran down the hallway to see all the wrapped presents under the tree. Our dog, Coaty, might have cut them off in the homestretch because usually if they’re running he’s right along side of them thinking they want to play.
There is something so special about this time of year that brings out the kid in all of us. Unfortunately as quickly as it comes it also leaves. As I’m getting this post together, I’m stuck behind my desk at work reflecting on our memories and envisioning those smiling faces. Since this is our busy season, we aren’t supposed to take time off from work which makes it extremely difficult for me around the holidays and always tugs at my mama heartstrings, really hard. But enough about that, this is a happy post about our Christmas celebration.
I kind of loved that Christmas was attached to a weekend this year because it’s even more difficult when it’s in the middle of the week. We had plans to go back into the city with the nuggets this weekend when Eric’s brothers arrived from Cali, but the weather was not in our favor. It was pouring down rain so we decided to pass on the idea and all have a low key day at home. It ended up being perfect and we got to catch up with each other and lounge around by the fire.
This year we decided to host Christmas Eve at our house instead of Christmas day. Christmas day always feels so rushed, and then there’s that dreaded cleanup, and before we know it the day is already over. Unfortunately our family is all spread out, so it’s not so easy for everyone to just hop in the car and come on over for a little while. For the most part, everyone loved the idea of Christmas Eve and even asked if we could do it like this every year. I loved that everyone could come over earlier and hang out for however long they wanted and still have Christmas day to visit with others or relax and do things on their own.
We started off the day by going to church, and I was so happy to hear it was the same service that they were doing at night. That’s the only downfall about doing Christmas Eve, it makes it difficult to attend service at night.
The nuggets were so wound up the night before Christmas that I seriously think it was the latest they have ever gone to bed. I’m talking jumping up and down like little monkeys, screaming, having 10 million excuses why they needed a drink for the 100th time, and I even used the, if you don’t go to bed Santa won’t come tactic. I told the boys they needed to stay in their rooms in the morning and wait for mommy and daddy to come and wake them up. Well, that turned out to be a mom fail. A took it so literal that he ended up wetting the bed and cried for me in the middle of the night because he thought he couldn’t leave his room. Womp, womp.
The next morning things kicked off pretty early. Thankfully our clock had a seven in front of it so I was ok with that. I mean, does anyone with little kids really think they’re going to be able to sleep in on Christmas? It also snowed a bit over night and was a really pretty sight to wake up to a white Christmas.
A family tradition of ours that we have done ever since I was little, is read Luke chapter 2 before we open any of our gifts. For us, it’s the perfect way to start the day and reflect on why we celebrate Christmas and pray together as a family. I also like to think it adds another message in there for the boys about learning patience.
The boys had the best time opening their gifts and gave us some great reactions. Their faces were priceless on a few of them and we couldn’t help but smile and get just as excited with them. Eric got me a new Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens
that was one of the first gifts I opened. It ended up being perfect to use to capture all of these great moments. I love my 50mm and 40mm lenses, but it is so hard capturing things indoors and having to stand so far back. This made a world of difference and I can see getting a lot of use out of this.
that was one of the first gifts I opened. It ended up being perfect to use to capture all of these great moments. I love my 50mm and 40mm lenses, but it is so hard capturing things indoors and having to stand so far back. This made a world of difference and I can see getting a lot of use out of this.
If you caught my insta stories then you might have seen how excited little nugget was for his drum. There is a whole back story to this that I will try to make short. Eric ordered him a mini drum set over a month ago that is still not here. The night before Christmas I asked the boys what they thought they were going to get and A said Paw Patrol things and little nugget said his drummer (that’s what he calls drums). I ran down stairs and told Eric that we had to do something because that’s all he really wanted and was so set on getting it. Eric plays the drums but his set has been packed away in storage since we moved into our investment house. He ran out back and rifled through our storage to get his snare drum out and wrapped it up so he would have something drum related to open. Let’s just say that saved the day. Little nugget’s reaction was so adorable! He played that thing almost all day and we can’t wait to see his reaction when his set finally arrives.
Our Christmas day was filled with a lot of relaxing, staying in our PJs, no makeup on, watching the boys play for hours, we played games with each other, watched Christmas movies, and snuggled around the fire.
I came across this quote and posted it on my facebook when I shared some of our Christmas highlights. It said, {I think as you grow older your Christmas list gets shorter, because you realize the things you want can’t be bought}. This could not be more true for me. Regardless of all the materialistic things we could get for one another, nothing compares to those that are around our tree.
From my family to yours, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and may the joys of the season continue on.
