Christmas 2014

Well another Christmas has come and gone! I am so sad to see this season go. Christmas has always been my FAV time of year and with kids its just so fun and so special and each year just gets more and more fun!
Christmas Eve was a pretty relaxing day for us. We splept in and ate breakfast then got the kids dressed and we went to the park. This has sort of become a Christmas Eve tradition for us. There isn't much else to do and we want to wear the kids out for that night! The kids wanted to go back to the one in Gretna that I brought them last week. We had a great time just playing together as a family. The kids are at such great ages. They can play alone but we can also interact with them without having to hover. It was a beautiful day and I think we all just enjoyed the outdoor time. Once we got home we ate lunch and just hung out that afternoon. We worked on present wrapping and getting things ready for Christmas. That evening we went to my parent's house. Again our tradition. We always have a big dinner (this year it was fajitas). We enjoy all the visiting and the kids just enjoy the playtime! After dinner we did Happy Birthday Jesus cake and singing. Another favorite tradition. Afterwards we spend some time singing Christmas songs and reading the Christmas story from Luke 2. We also added Santa Comes to Louisiana to our mix. We hung out for a little while longer then it was time to get 2 little ones back home and off to bed. We did a quick bathtime and got them in their pjs. We had to do cookies for Santa and reindeer food. They were both really into it all! We did our Advent story and then they were off to bed. They were both so good and fell asleep almost right away.
We were done playing Santa by 10:30 or so I think! This year we didn't buy any really big gifts:
Colby got: a pirate ship, some CARS, PLANES, angry birds stuffed and a game, MineCraft and a slinky dog.
Lindsay got: Ariel doll, Ariel, Belle, and Elsa Barbie type dolls, Ariel's Castle, some gowns, a Doc McStuffins Game.
Christmas morning I was shocked that we all slept until 7! The year before Colby was up at 5:30! It was nice to have "slept in". We did our family Christmas. The adults this year got an iPad, suitcases, kitchen accessories, a Kitchen Aid Mixer. The kids had a little time to play while we got ready for the day.
We went over to my parent's house at 9 to do our traditional breakfast and opening of the presents there. Again another fun time to just visit and enjoy family. We opened presents after but our presents have shrunk drastically over the last few years. We mostly just let the kids open a few things and that's it! Its mostly about spending time with one another now! We hung out until about 11 or 11:30 before heading home. The kids were anxious to play with their toys again. We got home and started the preparations for that night. We had my parents over for Christmas dinner. We usually cook and either invite them over or a friend for Christmas. Since my mom hosts all the other holidays we try to do our part by having this one ourselves. I think it made my parents feel really good to be invited over for dinner and not have to cook. We enjoyed our time with them and then took a family walk after dinner to look at Christmas lights. Another fun memory made!