Christmas 2015

I love Christmas, the whole Christmas season. I am always bummed when it is over. We stretched Christmas over the weekend this year. It was nice to be able to sit back and enjoy everyone and everything. Typically we just celebrate in a day and it goes by quickly. This year we slowed down and enjoyed it over four days, if you include Christmas Eve Eve. :)

On Christmas Eve my parents have always hosted a turkey dinner. They have been doing this since I was a young kid. This year Christmas Eve was a little smaller than usual. It included my parents, my sister, my two grandparents, my family of four and an uncle who stopped in. I forgot to take pictures, but snagged this picture of Guy post turkey dinner.

We tracked Santa and left around 7:30. When we got home around 8:00 we set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

That night while the children were tucked snug in their beds, Santa came!

Christmas morning is the best with kids. Brandon and I both woke up around 6:30, drank a cup of coffee together with the tree lit and then because we couldn't stand it anymore, Brandon stomped really loud and woke the kids up. They ran up the stairs and were so excited. We opened up presents and then hit the road to see Brandon's parents. They live about an hour and a half away and it has been snowing HARD the week before we left so I was a little nervous about the roads, but they were pretty dry. We had a relaxing day with his family and Maddi and Guy spent HOURS that day sledding with their cousins. Brandon's parents have a farm with lots of great sledding hills.

 

The bottom of their sledding hill ended up being the yard.

This girl wouldn't slow down for a picture. 

While the kids' were sledding we played a lot of card games, ate way too many cookies (if there is such a thing as too many cookies) and spent time with aunts and uncles and his grandma.

On the 26th we went to my parents house. This is the aftermath! HA!

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with family and fun. I hope you all had a merry little Christmas as well! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. This Christmas was a little different, and our Christmas season started out differently with the passing of my Grandma Bev. Christmas was her favorite time of the year, and we couldn't help but think of her and miss her. As I was taking down my decorations on Sunday I couldn't help but think about how different this Christmas was, and reflect on how important faith and family is.

Thank you for reading today.

-Jenna

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Yes it's a day in my Christmas-loving world! Here is how we celebrated it....

To start our day, my mom and dad have the kiddos over on most Tuesday nights for dinner. Since it is Christmas break they kept the kids over night, so all morning I prepped cinnamon rolls, two kinds of cookie dough and got everything set up for the kids when they came home.

When they got home, the first thing they wanted to do was find George, our Elf and check the advent calendars.

Then they played in the snow.

We frosted sugar cookies. Here is how I set up a kid-friendly system. I line my table with wax paper (if you get a paper towel damp and wipe down a surface the wax paper sticks and wont slide around). I then place all the cookies, frosting and sprinkles in the middle. I made cream cheese frosting because it is all of our favorite.

The kids killed the decorating this year. They did so good. Guy even put a star on top of his tree cookie, Maddi made intricate details on her cookies. I love decorating sugar cookies, but give up all control and let them do their own thing. I have years left to decorate "Martha-esque" Christmas cookies, but not many years left of little kids decorating cookies.

Having fun!

Guy's Christmas tree with a star.

Maddi's smiley face men.

She did amazing with this tree!

That evening after dinner we set out on our next adventure. We went to Starbucks, grabbed hot chocolate and then drove around and looked at all the lights.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas Eve Eve, and I also hope that you are enjoying your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I will be back on Monday recapping our Christmas. I am starting this blog because I suck at scrap booking and printing pictures, but love taking pictures and keeping my family near and far up-to-date on what we are up to. I also need a place to record all of our memories so that one day my kids can look back and remember their childhood, so here we are!

Thank you for reading today, Merry Christmas!
-Jenna