A Very Merry (and long) Christmas Recap
What a fun and memorable Christmas we had over here! Lots of laughs, lots of food, fun gifts and of course, several “dad” jokes. It was everything Christmas should be!
But, let me tell you, it sure wouldn’t be Christmas without one of my most favorite memories popping up over on Facebook. My heart is so happy every year when this picture of Henry and me shows up! I love, love, love it! And oh-my-word, how have six years gone by?!
This meme had me laughing.
Yup.
We attended a holiday party with a bunch of our friends. I thought it’d be fun to wear an ugly sweater, but then I found this spectacular pant suit at Goodwill and couldn’t resist the fanciness of it all. Of course, I had to find some large glasses to match (I popped out the lenses of some cheap sunglasses). My hair was a must, the turtle neck was on fleek and the brotches are owned by yours truly. Classy and sassy, I know…
Elmer was busy making all sorts of mischief…
Eliza helped send out Christmas cards at the eleventh hour. For those of you who received a card from us, just know that I wasn’t drunk while putting on the stamp. Eliza was in charge of stamps…which should clearly explain why it was crooked/sideways. She actually was a huge help, I just had to give up a little bit of “perfection” and just live and let go. Something I need to do more often.
I almost sent out all the cards that I normally do, but for the few who had changed addresses in 2017, I just ran out of time. Ahhh!! So close.
Henry found the glasses that I wore to the holiday party. Um…hello, cuteness!
Apparently Elmer thought he’d look cute in glass, too.
Henry and Eliza got all dressed up in their green and red for Henry’s class Christmas party.
I dropped off Henry at school and Eliza and I ran a few errands before heading to the party at 10:30. I tried to squeeze in all-things-everything with any time I had the week leading up to Christmas. For the few moments I had to breathe on this particular day, Eliza decided she wanted a reindeer in her hair. I somehow magically had all the reindeer hair accessories and necessities on hand for another project I was about to do later that evening. This is what we ended up with…
I think it turned out as good as it could have for the ten minutes we had before running out the door.
Eliza was all dressed up for Henry’s class party – earrings and pearls and all…
These kids. Henry’s peace sign. Who are these little people of mine?! They’re so goofy!
Henry’s second helping of a nutritious mid-morning snack.
Yeah, I was the helicopter mom who stayed to watch my kid put on his snow boots, snow pants and coat for recess. I just stood there and watched and I took in every second. It’s the little things, people… 😉
Eliza and I came home and she took it upon herself to make shoes (and a mess) out of all of those Solo Cups Elmer had left for us. I mean, the shoes DO match the outfit…
The kids put all the Christmas cards in the mail for me. I’m sure the cars behind us just loved how long it took for the kiddos to put each and every card in the mailbox. The last car gave us a friendly thumbs up, but we did get honked at once…and we weren’t even in line anymore.
Geesh, what gives?!
*shrugs shoulders*
We secretly took Henry to breakfast the morning of Eliza’s Christmas party. He didn’t have school, but Eliza did. We told him he had to keep it to himself that he went with us so that Eliza wouldn’t be sad. He still hasn’t said a word.
Eliza’s party…
Eliza praying. I just love the innocence…
Eliza’s gift to me. It was an adorable ornament, but I also kept the tag and hung it up on the tree.
Her name – I love it!
We left to go to my parent’s almost immediately after Eliza’s school party. Jon ran into the local grocery store and these cute little elves and I took some “elfies!” Ha!
I was sporting some sweet high heels that Jon received as a white elephant gift from the Christmas friend party.
My side of the family. The cousins.
They all play so well together! We just love these all of these kids so very much. I wish we could see them more throughout the year.
My sisters and all the kids. Oh – and my sister is something like six months pregnant in this picture and you can’t even tell! She’s a beautiful pregnant woman, if you ask me!
My mom’s Department 56 Village. This is only a quarter of all of her houses/village. We begged for her to put some out this year! She said it took her ten hours to put these ones out on display. Totally worth it! It was so magical and, not to mention, nostalgic…
We played Speak Out…well, not really played, just read the cards with the dental devices in our mouths. Jon and I laughed so hard. So, so, sooo funny!
It wouldn’t be Christmas without my sister, Kimmy, and myself drinking some coffee and eating our dad’s famous cookies for breakfast – to which we lovingly refer to as, breakfast cookies!
Next up – the in-laws house on Saturday.
We chatted, the kids snuggled and I drank more coffee…
…aaaaaaaand then promptly switched to wine, because Christmas.
The kids patiently awaited the arrival of their cousins.
The cousins arrived and it was time to par-tay.
…and by party, I mean beg for the kids to sit for 3.5 seconds in order to get one…just one…family photo…
We ate, we opened presents, we – DINOSAUR!
Elmer showed up on Christmas Eve at the in-laws and rumor has it, my MIL helped make this tiny little chain link with tweezers for Elmer’s tree.
Those in-laws, and Elmer, really outdid themselves! How cute is this?!
The kids slept, while Elmer – only feet away – continued to decorate his tree.
”
Elmer left a note saying the kids could hold him for the car ride home on Christmas Eve. Oh my gosh, they were extremely careful with him. In fact, it seemed as though they didn’t even want to touch him.
The car ride home was peaceful. The kids didn’t argue and took turns passing Elmer back and forth. It was a Christmas miracle!
The roads became nasty. I knew it was supposed to start to snow where we lived, but I thought it was going to be later in the evening. We saw a car flipped upside down at one point. It was really terrible. We basically went 40 mph the remainder of the time on the expressway.
We arrived home – safe and sound. Phew.
We unpacked and settled in.
We made reindeer food…
Our neighbors stopped by and dropped off a package that our other friends had sent to us…Yum!
We ate a typical Christmas meal of Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner… 😉
We took lots of family photos…
Then the elves arrived with our Christmas pajamas!!!!
We snuggled on the couch and watched some Christmas cartoons…
The kids set out…no – THREW – the reindeer food…
While the kids slept…
…Santa got to work…
BAM! Christmas morning!
That hair!!!
That face!!!
She’s saying, “Oh really?”
Lots of fast-moving blurry pictures below…
Prepare yourselves for the Eliza show. She was all about taking pictures on Christmas morning!
I opened my present from Henry. It’s a Christmas bulb that says, “Super Sister.”
Okay…
Cool. 😉
These two boys were having fun with their laser guns…
It didn’t take long for Eliza to dress up her unicorn…
Jon bought me a Silhouette for Christmas and I love it. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but now I want to make all the things!
What you see here are lyrics from the first song we ever danced together when we were dating. Name that song…
#truth
The day after Christmas was loaded with lots of nothing. Toys were still everywhere, I hadn’t changed out of my pjs for two days, we ate all the bacon and we watched way too much tv. It was fabulous. The night ended with Henry having a solo dance party, dishes in the sink and loads of laundry piled up in our bedroom. It was a good time.
Now, back to business…kind of…I mean, we are still on break, right?! 😉
Marie 🙂
