So, this Christmas was out of the ordinary for our family. We typically gather in the living room on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought and then casually open each gift one at a time until each gift is unwrapped and there is a mountain of wrapping paper on the floor.
However, since we are blessed with my husband being on staff at a church and Christmas being on a Sunday this year....I knew that Christmas morning would be rushed. I wanted the kids to be able to enjoy each gift without Mom and Dad saying "Hurry, hurry, hurry....we have 1 hour to open presents and eat breakfast before we have to be at church." So....this year I broke tradition and we opened gifts after the Christmas Eve service. Addison and Finn were super excited about this!
I always have so much anxiety about how much to buy each kid and if it is even with their sibling. So far, Spunky and I gift each child with a couple of toys and 2-3 outfits each. This year, Addison was gifted 2 lego sets that she wanted. Finn got the giant fire truck that he wanted for months!
After opening Christmas gifts we decorated cookies for Santa (another tradition).
Fed our reindeer and layed the cookies out for Santa.
This is probably one of my most favorite pictures of my kids ever. This is probably the first year (and possibly the last) year that they have ever had matching Christmas pajamas. It is so so difficult to find matching anything for them due to their age difference. I bought these pajamas at Gymboree shortly after Halloween! Ha! I was really hesitant to buy them because I hate spending more than $10 on pajamas, but my husband insisted that I get them!
After cookies and reindeer, we sat down to read The Christmas story. On Christmas Eve morning our Elf "Snowflake" showed Addison and Finn what Christmas is truly about.
And so, we sat down to read as a family.
The next morning Santa visited. This year both kids got small Samsung tablets. Addison got another Lego set and Finn got the Ninja Turtle "treehouse" (which is a playset).
Christmas morning went really really well. I was glad that I had made the call to open Christmas gifts the night before. Our awesome pastor even said that Christmas morning was pajama day. So...I brought the kids in their pajamas to church! It helped that I served in the nursery on Christmas morning, so both kids hung out with me and a few other kids.
After church, we came home and I made fettuccine alfredo for my family. It is one of their favorite dishes (and it is a pain to make). This is the first year that I have had lunch with only my family on Christmas day.
After a really nice nap, we went and visited with my Grandmother, who is 96 years young.
And yes, my children are still wearing matching pajamas!
And Christmas 2016 is in the books!
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