Christmas Recap

Hello and Happy Monday! I love a Monday with still over a week left of break!

Today, I’m sharing some of our break so far as well as our Christmas.

On Monday evening, Travis and I attended my school’s holiday party. While we were there, the kids decorated their gingerbread houses with the sitter.

Tuesday was cookie baking day. We usually bake two cookies: Peanut Butter Blossoms and Chocolate (Peppermint) Crinkle cookies. Sometimes, we will also do sugar cookies, but we decided to just stick with these two recipes.

The chocolate cookie dough has to go in the freezer for a bit, so Hadley and I made that dough while Hayden was at basketball training. Then, when Hayden got home, he helped me make the peanut butter cookie dough, and we baked all the cookies.

Both kids like to help, so it simplifies things (*read: less fighting) if I make one type of cookie with each kid. That being said, all hands on deck for the Kisses!

Both cookies turned out perfectly.

On Wednesday, cousins came over, so I baked gingerbread cookies ahead of time and the kids decorated them.

Our elf has been up to a bit of fun this past week. The kids loved the cookies he left, and they had fun searching for the candy canes he scattered around the house.

Homer has been really good with Red this year except for one time when he got him! So, Red thought it would be best to hang out in the Mason jar! The kids loved the lottery tickets he left (but, no winners!), and of course we needed reindeer food (oatmeal + glitter) so Santa could find our house.

We had our Louisville Christmas on the 23rd. The kids loved their gifts…

and cousin time.

Christmas Eve morning was pretty low key. I had some time to finish wrapping gifts, and then I baked the cake I make every year: Shay’s Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Bundt Cake.

It’s a family favorite!

Then, we went to my brother’s house for a cousin Christmas. The kids exchanged gifts, and…

we enjoyed a few Spritz cookies that my brother’s family made (another family tradition!)

My kids usually exchange their gifts on Christmas Eve before bed. That being said, I had a feeling we were going to have a late night, so they exchanged gifts Christmas Eve afternoon once we got home from my brother’s house.

Last weekend, we all had lunch out and then I took Hayden to pick out Hadley’s gifts while Travis took Hadley to get Hayden a gift. It’s always so fun to see what they choose for each other.

Hayden and I went to Buff City Soap, and he picked out a few things for her. Then, he said we should go to Joseph Beth (a local bookstore…and one of his favorite places. haha) JB does have so much more than books! He was excited to find this stuffed dog that he said looked just like Homer!

Hadley picked out Nike shorts and a shirt for Hayden as well as the Jordan magazine that I told her he had his eye on it at the bookstore.

We had Christmas Eve dinner before church. We had salmon, Bob Evans mashed potatoes and bacon wrapped green beans.

Before Christmas Eve service, we took a couple of pics:

Our church looked so pretty…

…and my favorite part is Silent Night.

After the Christmas Eve service, we stopped by our friends’ house for some apps and drinks. They were having an open house for neighbors and friends. It was nice to see everyone and hang out for a bit.

Then, we put cookies and milk out for Santa along with a few carrots for the reindeer. (We will do this until they graduate high school, right?!)

Per tradition, the kids stayed up too late, and I had to force them to *finally* go to bed.

We set the presents out and headed to bed close to midnight!

Hadley told me she was going to set an alarm to wake them at 7:30, so I set one for 7:00, so I could be up and have a few minutes of peace and quiet.

They woke right around 7:30. We opened presents while Red watched from the tree, per tradition.

The #1 thing on Hadley’s list was a pink cowgirl hat. Hayden asked for a UK basketball jersey and Kobe’s Mamba Mentality book. Both were very pleased on Christmas morning, and I love that their wish lists are pretty simple.

Then, it was stocking time which is everyone’s favorite part.

I wish I could say the rest of the day was super relaxing because we did stay home all day, but the day still somehow passed by quickly. From breakfast, to gift assembly, clean up, organizing, family phone calls and more, we were pretty busy…but a good kind of busy.

The weather was so mild that the kids actually played outside with friends most of the afternoon.

Finally, Christmas night, I watched A Christmas Story per tradition.

Yesterday, we eased into the day, but then we spent over three hours purging and organizing drawers, closets, and the kids’ bedrooms.

Travis reminded me that we didn’t have our traditional Christmas morning mimosas. So…I treated myself to one yesterday afternoon as a reward for all the cleaning and organizing I did. #treatyoself

Then, I watched the Chiefs vs the Steelers game while Hayden and Travis went to a local high school basketball game.

We’ve had a really great first week of break, and we had a wonderful Christmas as well. It has been different being home so much, but we’ve had a good mix of productivity and a bit of relaxing.

This Week:

I plan on posting two more times this week:

On Wednesday, I will share the books I read in December as well as my Top 5 books of 2021:

Then, on Friday, I’m going to take a look back at 2021…

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays.