Christmas Recap

Hello and Happy Monday! There’s nothing better than a Monday while still on break! I love that feeling; I only wish these Christmas decorations would put themselves away!

Anyway, to wrap up all the holiday posts over the past couple of months, I’m sharing how we spent Christmas Eve and day.

Our elf, Red, of course stuck around until the 25th. We found him hanging out after getting into our wrapping supplies!

Then, he brought the kids some reindeer food to sprinkle in the yard on the 24th.

Lastly, he was in the tree to watch us open gifts on Christmas morning. Santa left the kids some cookies to find Christmas morning. Hayden said, “I bet Mrs. Claus made these!”

We had a nice dinner on Christmas Eve after watching Christmas Eve service from home.

Hadley helped me set the table on Thursday afternoon.

My grandma gave me these Christmas dishes a few years ago, and then I always add candles and a few decorations from around the house for the centerpiece. This year, I added trees and red and green candles to the kitchen table tray.

For dinner, I made lasagna and we had salad and rolls as well.

For dessert, I made a chocolate peppermint bundt cake which is what I’ve made the past few years using Shay’s recipe. It’s sooo good.

Before dinner, we snapped a few family photos. I asked the kids to get dressed for online church and dinner. Also, Hadley is pretty distinguished using the camera timer on my phone, so she set it up, and we just kept smiling!

Selfie with my fave…

After Christmas Eve dinner, the kids sprinkled the reindeer food on the SNOWY! front lawn before exchanging their gifts to each other. Usually, we take an evening and all go out, with Travis taking one kid, and I take the other to choose gifts. Then, we typically meet up for dinner (last year, we did Sunday brunch) as a tradition. This year, I just took each kid out one afternoon to choose gifts for each other.

It’s always fun to see what they pick for each other.

We played Uno before setting out the milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa (and his reindeer) before bedtime.

Hadley woke up twice in the middle of the night to tell me she couldn’t sleep. I’m sure she was excited for Christmas morning, but I bet she could have tried to wake her dad up at least one of those times 😉Anyway, I was shocked to take up at 7:30, and I couldn’t believe the kids weren’t up yet. Through the years, they typically get up around 7:00. I got out of bed and was just about to pour a cup of coffee when Hadley got up and then woke up Hayden and Trav.

After opening gifts and stockings…

Trav’s gift tags to me always make me laugh.

the kids got a pic with Homer who was pretty well-behaved on Christmas morning!

Then, we went outside to check out the snow! It had started snowing Christmas Eve afternoon, and we got even more overnight…probably only a couple of inches but there was some ice as well. The snow was so pretty!

Then, I made a very simple breakfast. I made the muffins from a mix the day before. I picked up some mini quiches from Kroger and while they baked, I fried up some bacon and cut up some strawberries.

Then, Travis and I had a mimosa (or two) and watched Ozark while the kids played video games.

We spent the rest of the day being pretty lazy and calling loved ones to wish them a Merry Christmas.

The kids played in the snow for a bit with the neighborhood friends.

Mid-afternoon, we snacked on a couple apps and took turns taking naps. We had leftover lasagna for dinner and watched A Christmas Story as a family before 10:00 bedtime for everyone!

While it was a different Christmas for sure, we still enjoyed the day and the slower pace this year. That being said, I saw this on Instagram, and can certainly relate and thought of family and friends many times throughout the day.