We told the kids they couldn't come downstairs until 6:00 on Christmas morning, and they ended up making it until almost 6:30. Matt and I got up early and got everything ready.
We made them wait on the stairs while we woke up Katherine.
She didn't understand why everyone was up so early.
We got the kids a joint gift of two bungee chairs for extra seating in the play room- They've been used as obstacles and trampolines more than chairs though (we're not surprised)
After they saw the chairs, they took off after their stockings.
I always like shopping for stocking stuffers. The kids ask for little toys/books/things all year, and most of the time we tell them no, so it's fun to spoil them at Christmas- and make the practical things like toothbrushes, underwear, gloves, chap stick, and bandaids seem more fun.
After stockings they took turns opening their gifts under the tree.
I tried to limit them to three major gifts, but I think they each ended up with another one or two smaller things (like a book or cd).
Nathan's main gifts this year were a K'nex ferris wheel set, a Lego gadget book, and motors for his legos.
Samuel's main gifts were Mario party 8 with extra controllers, tinker toys, and a spirograph and craft kit.
Elisabeth's main gifts were a Calico critters house/van set and accessories, a Barbie styling head and a karaoke machine.
Katherine got an ice cream cart and a Tickle Me Elmo.
Matt and I both ended up getting big gifts for each other earlier in the month (a new phone and a new laptop), but had a smaller gift to open on Christmas morning too.
After we opened gifts, it was time to play!!!
Sweet baby girl was so cuddly all morning. I think she was tired from getting woken up so early
Nathan had a hard time deciding what to play first. I think he started and stopped playing with all his gifts that morning. He was too excited to stick with one I guess.
Elisabeth's number one gift request for Christmas was this Calico Critters van. She's had the figures and some houses since her birthday and always needed a car whenever she played with them.
This was my view as I was cooking breakfast. I think it's the best view in the world. I'm so grateful for such happy, precious Christmas memories with my family. Goodness, we're so blessed to have these four wonderful kids who make Christmas magical.
We had our traditional waffles and bacon for breakfast.
As soon as breakfast was over, it was back to playing.
Christmas morning is one of my favorite days of the year, and I told Matt that what I've realized is that what I love about it is that we take a whole day off- no chores or work or places to go, and we just relax, spend time together as a family, and play! I love that. I think I usually feel scattered with a million things to do and even when I'm playing with my kids, I'm still thinking about what I need to get done, but on Christmas everything stops, and it's such a joy to be able to spend quality time playing with my family- all those new toys help too!
I also told Matt we should schedule another day and pretend it's Christmas (without all the presents), and just stay home, ignore all the work and chores, and play. I think I'll make that a goal this year!
Around 11:00 we drove over to my parents' house to celebrate with them.
The kids couldn't wait to open more presents
They made out pretty good. We ate a late lunch and spent the afternoon playing. I played Let's Go Pikachu with Samuel, played Calico critters/My Life doll with Elisabeth and helped Nathan figure out his laptop, and Matt beat me at a few rounds of Mario Kart. It was a relaxing, fun day.
We had a really nice Christmas Eve. The kids stayed in their jammies for most of the day. I bought a Gingerbread decorating kit several weeks ago, but we never got around to decorating them, so we spent some time in the morning decorating our village.
I love seeing their creativity!
After lunch we started a new tradition of a sibling gift exchange. We took the kids shopping at Dollar Tree to buy gifts for their siblings and for me and Matt. Since I didn't want those thoughtful gifts to get overlooked on Christmas morning, we sat down and exchanged them on Christmas Eve. I was impressed with the kids' thoughtfulness for each gift they picked out. It was such a sweet time of giving and sharing with the ones we love the most.
Katherine was big fan of her gifts.
Even after all the presents Samuel got for Christmas, he still names this Firefighter army man set as one of his top favorites. Nathan knows him well
Elisabeth was excited about her stick on nails.
Matt and I also let the kids open a joint gift on Christmas Eve. I always get them a new game and let them open it on Christmas Eve and then we all play it. This year they got Sleeping Queens.
Finally about 3:00 that afternoon, we changed out of our jammies and got dressed up to go to the Christmas Eve service at our church.
Earlier in the month I had read an article that stuck with me about how many times the magical, precious memories of Christmas don't feel like that at the time. It talked about how the First Christmas when Jesus was born probably didn't feel that wonderful, awe inspiring and magical like it does today. In reality Mary and Joseph were alone, tired and dirty and exhausted from giving birth. But now, we look back on that Christmas as the most wonderful night in history. It shared how when we're raising young families, Christmas time might be full of melt downs, chaos, and unmet expectations, but years from now, we'll probably look back on these Christmases with such fond, sweet memories.
So during our Christmas Eve service when I was holding a lit candle in one hand and a bag of goldfish in the other hand trying to keep my active toddler still and quiet, I tried to remember that although it's stressful now, I'm going to cherish these sweet moments with my little family.
After the service, we grabbed a pizza for dinner and then met my parents at the Philbrook museum for some Christmas Eve fun.
Santa was busy on Christmas Eve, so Hornsby filled in and my kids were thrilled. Katherine was even a big fan (from a distance, ha)
The kids rode a train too.
Their favorite part was a craft area where they made lanterns.
They worked SO hard on those lanterns. I bet we were there for almost an hour. All three of them were so detail oriented in their creations. We were a little underwhelmed with the Christmas Philbrook activities until we reached the craft station. That made it all worth it, ha!
We came home and put the very excited kids straight to bed with orders that they couldn't come down for Christmas morning until 6:00 the next morning.
