Tuesday, January 5, 2021

CHRISTMAS-PART 2

Hey hey, friends!! Happy New Year!!! I pray you guys all had the best Christmas and New Years and are ready for an exponentially better year in 2021. I know I am!

So last week, I posted Part 1 of our Christmas (you can find that here) and am finally back with Part 2-Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! It has been rough trying to get back into the swing of things with the blog, the Deals Group, the Etsy shop and everything else. I really tried to take a break from it all when I just wasn't up for it and it felt great! But it's time to get back to it!

So welcome to our Christmas. :)

Last year on Christmas Eve, I surprised Matthew with a small Chick-fil-A nugget tray of his own and he LOVED it. He's a picky eater but he will destroy some CFA nuggets. So this is always a favorite gift! We did it again in May for his surprise "favorite things in quarantine" birthday and it's apparently become a little tradition. So around lunch time on Christmas Eve, I ran up to CFA to grab Matthew's first Christmas gift (and lunch for the rest of us).


I should have thought to put a big bow on it! Next year.


Two happy boys on Christmas Eve.

I always start to get sad on Christmas Eve and panic that it's almost over and "Have I really stopped to appreciate the lights?" and "Oh no! I still haven't watched that (fill in the blank Christmas movie)!" I just feel like I am always go-go-go up until Christmas Eve. Does anyone else feel like that? Anyway, I walked through my house appreciating my decor, and snapped this picture of some of my favorite things...and one giant thing that I can't stand. (That light fixture.) All the light fixtures in our house were here when we bought it and were in style back then. But they all need to be updated and finding the right ones that are the right size and coordinate with each other is hard enough but then you have to figure out how to install them or find someone who can. It's a process that I can't handle right this minute but I'm working on it!


Our Christmas Eve tradition always consists of the same things--Christmas Eve service, baking and decorating cookies for Santa, piling into the car in our jammies with blankets and hot chocolate to go look at Christmas lights, watching the boys open one present each, turning on 24 hours of A Christmas Story and the kids up to bed as early as possible.

First up this year was cookies!

Our cookies are never pretty but they sure do taste like they were baked by Santa's best bakers. ๐Ÿ˜‰Seriously though, Pillsbury ready-to-bake sugar cookies plus icing from a squeeze pouch and crystal sprinkles might just be my favorite dessert ever.


After we decorated cookies, it was time for church. It was online only this year so we built a fire and everyone got cozy.  


I whipped up our own version of the Lord's Supper when I realized that was part of the service.


Cheez-It's and grape juice in little shot glasses for the win! :) Don't judge me.

Time for lights! The boys begged to bring Charlie and I warned them it wasn't a good idea. He gets super anxious in the car and I knew he would be happier at home. But sometimes you have to learn the hard way.


We learned that when Charlie gets anxious, he also gets gassy. ๐Ÿ˜‚


I tried to warn them! They never listen.



After lights, the boys opened up a present that they had (painstakingly) chosen from under the tree earlier in the day.


Matthew was GIDDY seeing this 3lb Hershey bar I found at Walmart. ๐Ÿ˜‚ Like I said earlier, he is super picky with food so when we find things he will eat, we go for it. We're clearly trying to fatten this boy up. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Hershey bars are his favorite candy.


(Not pictured: Mason opening Nintendo Switch controllers that turned out to be the wrong ones...so he wasn't all that happy. Womp womp.)

Time to say goodbye to our elf, Doodah! He has been dangling by his feet from our balcony for the day so we found a way to snap a selfie with him before he disappeared for a year.



At around 10, we finished up with our last tradition. At one point, I started taping off their doors like this to help deter them from sneaking downstairs too early. It was more silly than anything but the physical barrier (even though it could easily be torn through) really did keep them in place! They love this part of the night! (Their rooms are behind them and in front of them is our playroom which you have to cross to get to the stairs.) Night night, boys!!


We made a deal with the boys that they could come downstairs at 7:15 so that's when our morning started. The boys are allowed to check out all the Santa gifts (Santa gifts aren't wrapped) and their stockings while I brush my teeth, wash my face, throw my hair up, and basically try to look halfway decent since Craig puts the video camera on a tripod and records the whole thing each year. They bring the gifts from under the tree into the living room and pass them around and then get to work. And we always have A Christmas Story on in the background.


This was Charlie's first Christmas with us and he got all kinds of goodies in his stocking thanks to BarkBox. I just saved his December box and put it all in his stocking.

He didn't know what was going on but he was loving it.


Mason got the shoes he's been dying for.


And this ridiculous burrito blanket from Amazon.





I always try to wrap every single little thing individually so they have more to open. Every shirt, pair of pants, book, socks, underwear...it's all wrapped separately to round out the experience. ๐Ÿ˜‰

And this is what we are left with.


At around 10:30, my parents and brother showed up to spend the day with us. They live about 2.5 hours away in Texarkana and weren't able to spend the night but we're so glad we got to see them!

Of course, they brought more presents!


My mom helped me make the BEST ham I've ever had using brown sugar, honey and pineapples and we ate that with mac-n-cheese, dressing/stuffing (which one is it?!), gravy and cheddar-bay biscuits. Yummy. And I didn't even think to snap a picture of it all. 

After lunch, we went outside because the weather was beautiful!





Craig got me a new bike (now that they are finally available again!) and we all took turns riding it around the culdesac. (Yes, in my slippers. haha They haven't left my feet since I bought them.)

\


We set up the camera stand and set a timer so we could try to get a group picture before they all headed home. It was blurry and the lighting wasn't great but we got a couple.



They left around 5:30 and Charlie and I took some time to rest.


We ended our night with everyone in the bedroom to watch Soul for a little Family Movie Night. 


And then the next morning, my Apple Watch made me feel bad about myself. ๐Ÿ˜‚


And that was our Christmas, friends! I'll be back on Friday with my list of Favorites from 2020 in a bunch of different categories so come back to see what made the cut!

Also, do you have any Favorites from 2020? Favorite movie/show/product/find/book/home decor/IG account/etc? I know I'm missing some things in this post I'm working on that I haven't even thought of so help jar my memory! 

Have a great week, friends!!

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6 comments

  1. Looks like the best Christmas!!

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  2. I'm so sad to see your festive house go for another year! It always looks so cozy and inviting inside!

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  3. Hi! Where did you find the Mama Clause sweatshirt! Love it and would to grab for next year!!

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    Replies
    1. I got it from Pink Lily but it's no longer available! :( I found several on Etsy though! https://bit.ly/3rTJkMK

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