Christmas 2017

Since we're so far along in the pregnancy, we didn't travel "home" (aka Arizona) for Christmas this year. I was excited to plan it all out - from the Christmas breakfast and activities to Christmas dinner. However, when it came down to it, we missed being around our extended family. That said though, Christmas was still magical. 

Aidan and Kimball still don't quite have the concept of Christmas down. I think Jayze and I were more excited than they were! They still wanted their routine peanut butter oatmeal for breakfast, along with a glass of orange juice (the OJ being Jayze's family's tradition). After that, Jayze and I convinced them to come downstairs to see if Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk and filled their stockings. It was fun seeing Aidan's face light up when he saw that Santa did indeed fill all of our stockings. 

Jayze and I learned really quickly that we were going to have to be patient. The kids were so excited about each gift and wanted to play with them as they opened them. But, that was the best thing of the whole morning - slowing down and taking our time. It was wonderful not having a rushed Christmas and seeing our boys take everything in and show us all their new gadgets. 

After we opened the stockings, we then had to convince A and K to come upstairs to check out the presents under the tree. It didn't take long for them to get the concept of unwrapping a gift. :) I let them make as much mess as they wanted (and as much as I could stand) and eat as much candy out of their stockings as they wanted to, too. 

It was play time pretty much the rest of the morning. Jayze made one of our favorite breakfast dish - baked oatmeal filled with raisins, dates, and walnuts. After the kids' naps, we all clambered downstairs and turned on a Christmas Mickey Mouse movie and ate popcorn and apples. Jayze and I snuggled on the airbed while the kids made a mess with their popcorn and climbed on and off the bed. 

Dinnertime was a yummy crockpot pot roast (per Jayze's request), along with carrots, potatoes, salad, and fruit salad. 

During the day, we lit Alma's candle and thought of him every time we saw it and smelled it. I'm so grateful for that tradition. 

We were all tuckered out by the end of the day. It's always bittersweet when Christmas day comes to a close. I didn't want it to end. But once the day came to a close, I remembered that this feeling doesn't have to end when Christmas ends. A new year was coming, with the anticipation of newness, brightness, hope, and resolve, which made taking all of the Christmas decorations down the next few days worth it. 

Merry Christmas, 2017!