2016 Christmas Recap

The most wonderful time of the year feels like months ago, but that's par for the course with this blog.  Regardless, I want to recount as much of it as I can because this is the first Christmas the kiddos truly GOT it.  Not to say they fully understand the real meaning of Christmas (Jude still prefers baby Jesus to sit on the roof of our nativity and Sloane has continued her love of presents before people) but the awe and wonder and magic were definitely there.  It was wonderful.

A small confession: I am not one of those who gets positively giddy about Christmas.  I enjoy putting up the Christmas decorations but about two weeks in I start feeling super claustrophobic.  I'm a minimalist at heart and it's hard for me to see past the STUFF.  I also get overwhelmed with all of the projects, crafts, pictures, cards, etc.  I wish I could say it's because I am so holy and really get the true meaning of Christmas but it's a personality flaw more than anything else.

Meanwhile, Michael is and always has been a Christmas fanatic and thankfully our kiddos have taken after him.  I did make the request that we spread out the cheer over the weeks leading up to Christmas so it wouldn't feel too overwhelming for any of us.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving the kiddos had their picture taken with Santa.  We've gone to this Santa every year and he's always so patient and sweet with them, including this year when Jude gave the beard one too many tugs.  Sloane asked for a purple slinky and for the next four weeks we heard way too much about this blessed gift.

Something else about this age - my kiddos don't quite understand time.  After a week of Sloane waking us up every morning with, "Is TODAY Christmas?" we found this adorable countdown calendar that saved the day.  Errrr... days.  Each morning they took turns moving the mossy wreath over to the correct number and it was probably our best purchase of the season.

We chose our beautiful tree from this quaint tree farm in McKinney called Home Depot and trimmed it sparingly.  It fell once and we're still not sure if it was solely Jude or if Sloane had a part in it.  We lost a good man/ornament in the fall but it scared both of them enough that the tree was left alone for the remainder of the season.

One of the highlights of this year was the Grapevine Polar Express.  Jude & Sloane wore their Christmas pajamas and got to ride their first train with mom, dad, Mimi, and Papa.  They absolutely loved it.  We sang Christmas carols, wrote letters to Santa, and got to visit the North Pole.  They each received their own silver bell after the ride was over and they're still hanging in their room - the only decoration I couldn't bare to put away.  They also took another picture with Santa and I must say, this has to be my favorite picture of them with jolly St. Nick.  It was such a fun evening and a great memory for all of us.

Other than that, we sent out some Christmas cards...

Visited downtown McKinney to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree...

Started soccer for Sloane and gymnastics for Jude...

Made some epic gingerbread houses (next year we're going to bake cookies - this was NOT the most wonderful time of the year)...

Purchased Holland's first Christmas ornament...

Went to a wonderful friend's Christmas party...

Grew a (giant) baby...

And had a fun Christmas concert at school... (they kept with last year's theme of Jude sitting in the teacher's lap the entire time and Sloane taking a lavish bow and blowing kisses to her adoring public after singing about sweet baby Jesus)

We celebrated Christmas a week early with Michael's family and then drove to Arkansas to spend Christmas with my family.  Since we were there on Christmas day we packed all of the toys, the stockings, and even the Christmas countdown calendar.  Our cars were filled to the brim.

On Christmas Eve they opened presents from mom, dad, Gaga, and Poppy.  They loved it for the most part but it was a bit sensory overload for Jude (The presents!  The wrapping paper!  The bags! The tissue paper!) so we spent the rest of the evening giving him big hugs and lots of love.

Christmas morning came and all of the presents were already unwrapped and waiting for eager hands.  The two of them spent the day playing and playing and playing with their new toys.

Michael had to be back at work on Tuesday but the kids and I stayed the rest of the week so we could see Aunt Chelle, Uncle B, and the cousins.  It was such a wonderful time - the fab five get along incredibly well and we even managed to fit 10.5 people under one roof for five days without any long-term effects.  I found myself thinking about next Christmas and how sweet it will be to have Holland there in the mix.

2016 was quite the year.  I was juuuuust fine waving goodbye to it and was happy to welcome 2017 with a warm embrace.  Cheers to a new year!