We had so much fun celebrating Christmas this year! As soon as we returned from our Thanksgiving trip to California, I got started decorating the house with some "help" from my two little ones. Grayson was so excited about everything that I took out. He really enjoyed trying to put the ornaments on the tree and also playing with the plastic manger that I bought for him last year. We seem to have misplaced Joseph but he mostly wanted baby Jesus and the animals so he didn't mind. Clare also tried to help put ornaments up and then she tore apart a pop up book about the Christmas story. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that I still had ornaments on the bottom of the tree when it was time to take it down :)
We spent the month making sugar cookies, decorating gingerbread houses, seeing lights, visiting Santa, and watching Christmas movies. I love Christmas and I want our kids to love it just as much but I don't want to get so caught up in making it magical that we forget to focus on the birth of Jesus and what that means for us. We tried to do a nice mix of Santa and Christmas trees vs the birth of Jesus and helping others.
Two days before Christmas we loaded up the truck (I love having a giant truck for road trips so much!) and drove up to Utah to spend the holiday with my family. We got lucky and drove up between snow storms so the roads were clear for us but there was a ton of snow for us to enjoy while we were there. Grayson loved playing in the snow and didn't really seem bothered by the cold. We took him sledding, he made snow angels and we went tubing and he enjoyed all of it. Clare, on the other hand, did not enjoy the cold at all! We took her tubing and she pretty much cried the whole time. She liked looking at the snow from inside but she had no interest in being out in it. Next time we will just leave her home with Grandma and Grandpa :)
On Christmas Eve, we had a big nice prime rib dinner that was delicious! My grandma came and spent Christmas with us which was so much fun! We were only missing my sister Chelsey who is currently in South Korea. Grayson had been so excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house that he didn't take a nap that day which combined with a late night the night before ended in him literally falling asleep while eating a roll at the dinner table. It was super cute and gave us all a good laugh.
Clare was completely obsessed with my mom (Clare would only go to her and wouldn't even come to me if my mom was nearby) so I got to use both hands to eat a full meal which was a nice change :) After dinner, we put Clare to bed and then the rest of us watched Christmas Vacation which is definitely my favorite Christmas movie!
On Christmas day, we woke up to a ton of new snow and it kept snowing for most of the day. I really wanted a white Christmas so it was perfect! We all gathered around the tree and took turns opening presents. I should say that we took turns for about two rounds and then my kids sort of took over the present opening process. They had a lot more presents than everyone else and they were just so darling opening things. I absolutely love seeing the joy on my kids faces at these ages as they open their presents! They are still young enough to be excited about even the smallest presents and it is so darn cute!
We had a wonderful relaxing Christmas and I am so grateful that we were able to spend it with my family! My parents and siblings were great with the kids and it was also a lot of fun to see my kids make memories with my Grandma. I am so grateful to come from such a close knit family!
