I'm finally trying to catch up on my blogging posts. I never wrote about how our Christmas was this past year. It was Lauren's first Christmas too! This year we decided to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house and then we went to visit Grandmom, Pop Pop and Nana w/ Paul, Amy, William and Ella in the afternoon. We went to Christmas Eve service at New Providence Presbyterian Church and then we came home for dinner .
The girls were up bright and early and were very excited to open presents. We opened presents from Grammy, Granddaddy, Tita, Uncle Steve and Aunt Jenny on Christmas Eve. We just thought it would be best to space them out. I think the fave toys this year were My Little Pony stuff, Disney Princess stuff and this little ice cream shoppe play tent we got Jess. Lauren would've been just happy as a clam with bows and tissue paper but I do love the little rocker we got her.
Christmas Eve Presents:
Christmas Morning:
Christmas Afternoon:
I've been really trying to think about what Christmas traditions we want to establish for our family. Our family is still young so I'm sure more traditions will naturally be created over time. I like the idea some people have of giving gifts on Christmas Eve before bed. I read about one mom that would give PJs, a book and an ornament. I also like the idea of creating a Christmas card tree where you hang all your Christmas cards as you receive them. I definitely want to do that but that would have to be another house. We just have room for our one tree in the living room. Jess had a tree in her room that she really liked. Jess really enjoyed doing the advent house this year but it does get tough to come up with ideas of things to put behind those little doors. We also did Operation Christmas Child through our church this year. Jess really liked putting together our two boxes to be sent to two little children. We have a special children's nativity set which I loved using this year. Each day you open a box and it's a piece that goes along with a little nativity scene. We read a lot of books to help teach Jessica (and eventually Lauren) the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It's really hard to balance the true meaning of Christmas - celebrating the birth of Jesus - and how that relates (not relates) to Santa and toys etc. I guess it's just one of our parenting challenges.
Jess and I baked our special allergy free Christmas cookies. I tried a new recipe this year and they came out pretty good. I just have to remember not to roll the dough too thin.
We attended the Wesley Center Preschool holiday party. The kids sang songs and had special treats. I love attending stuff at her school. Scott was able to be there too. I think that was one of the most special things about this Christmas. Scott was off for almost 2 weeks! He was able to go to Florida with us for a few days too (that's a separate post).
Overall it was a really special time. I love being a family of four. I love watching the girls interact and play together. I feel so blessed that even though the economy is awful right now we were able to provide a special Christmas for the girls.
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