Christmas 2018

We had a really low key, but fun Christmas this year. Because of all the craziness of a newborn, my hospital visit, and twin toddlers, we decided not to put up any Christmas decorations. Which is so sad, considering this was our first Christmas in our new house {and Aiden's first Christmas!} But it made things a lot less stressful, and we really didn't miss out on any actual Christmas fun. Hopefully next year we can decorate...Eli and Maddie can "help" and we can focus on just keeping one walker away from the ornaments {we can only hope}  :)

My parents came into town, so we were able to spend a lot of time with them. My brother had the weekend off, so he spent several days with us too, and that just about made Eli and Maddie's whole world, being able to play with "Uh-Michael." We spent a lot of time at home just playing, and it was fun just to be together as a family.

On Christmas Eve, we decided to show Eli and Maddie A Charlie Brown Christmas. They haven't had much screen time {only watching a soccer game, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and a sing-along video on Right Now Media} so this was a special treat! I had given them a Charlie Brown Christmas book that I had found at Target for $1, so they were familiar with "Char Char Bown," Linus, and Snoopy. So when they saw them on the screen as a moving cartoon, they were pretty excited! They were both pretty attentive...until about halfway through when Maddie lost interest and wanted to move around and play instead. Eli sat pretty much in the same spot, eyes glued to the TV the whole time haha. He would get excited and point whenever Snoopy came on the screen, but otherwise he was intently watching. When it was over, his only comment was "again?" :)

We tried to grab some quick photos before heading to the Candlelight Service at Parkway. Taking photos is a challenge these days, so I definitely bribed Eli and Maddie with a granola bar to get just a couple where they were sitting somewhat still...and poor Aiden wasn't a huge fan of his outfit at first haha. But they all sure looked cute! :)

We were definitely thankful to have extra hands {giving us the ability to play man-on-man defense haha}, and our little ones did really well through the Christmas service! It was nice to be able to go to church on Christmas Eve, sing carols with our church family, and be reminded of the good news of the incarnation of Christ.

We were able to get a really great family photo with my parents and brother. I LOVE how it turned out! And then we tried to get a family of 5 photo, and well...they did well through the service, so I can't really complain that they were done and not wanting to take photos. #reallifewithtoddlers

Christmas morning was fun, as this was the first real Christmas where Eli and Maddie knew about the excitement of opening presents. But they are still young enough that they didn't know that this morning was any different than any other morning, so we were able to get up and have our normal morning routine and jump into the present opening when we were ready. We enjoyed breakfast, finished up our Advent reading and song, and then let them open presents. After we snapped a few photos in our Christmas pajamas, of course :)

Take #521

#reallifewithtoddlers

We like the idea of keeping the presents simple. We want them to have the fun and excitement of opening presents from Mommy and Daddy on Christmas morning, but we want to be sure that doesn't overshadow the celebration of Christ's birth. We hope to incorporate some more traditions as they get older and can understand more, but for this year, we stuck to Advent and 3 gifts each. We gave them each something they wanted {something to play or create with}, something they could wear {our matching family pajamas!}, and something to read. And they each got their own wrapping paper, just to keep it simple for Mommy. Aiden is still too little for presents, plus his brother and sister have more than enough to pass down...but he did get his own pajamas :)

Learning how to use the power drill

Our little builder :)

Helping Daddy open his gift from Mommy

Mike wrote me a Christmas poem for my gift! I have to wait to find out what it is {it's apparently a planned event a few weeks from now}, and I'm so excited!

Since Grandma and Grandpa were here, our kiddos also got to open presents from them. So to say that they had a fun morning playing with new toys is an understatement! And I mean our kiddos AND Grandma and Grandpa :)

Aiden loved his Pooh bear from Grandma and Grandpa! :)

#safetyfirst

Granny and Grumpz came over after nap, and they came bearing a fun new gift! Eli and Maddie got a new play kitchen, and they absolutely love it! I see myself eating lots of play food and drinking lots of pretend coffee in my future haha. They also brought over a tool bench that cousins were passing along to us, and I also foresee a lot of cute tool man {or woman} photos in our future :)

We had a really fun Christmas, and we are so thankful for all the sweet memories!