The huge (&final) Christmas post.

This Christmas, like every Christmas, came and went in a flash. The fun began on Christmas eve, with our traditional pajama exchange. This was one of my favorite parts of Christmas when I was a kid. Afterwards, we whipped up some sugar cookie dough and left it to set while we went on our last Christmas light drive of the season. When we got back, we cut and baked the cookies. Emerson was the best little helper. When the cookies were fresh out of the oven, we shared them as we read The Polar Express and a passage from Emerson's mom & son bible about the first Christmas. I've already spoken about how amazing it has been to have Emerson truly grasp the idea of Christmas this time around. It sincerely made everything more special. Eisley loved listening to the stories too. I think the kids will be bookworms, just like Mom & Dad. We ended the night (for kids with sleepy eyes, at least) with a "Oh, I think I hear Santa's sleigh!" Once the kids were sound asleep in their beds, we, ahem, I mean Santa, set to work! While I finished off the rest of my handmade gift projects, Brian wrapped every. single. present. Yep, that awesome husband! He let me stuff the stockings though, which is probably my favorite part of playing Santa. We got into bed a little earlier than we expected, which was nice, though it was still very late. I remember as a kid how hard sleep was on the night before Christmas. Now I think it's one of the best sleeps I get each year!


"Ready, set, go!"










Looking like a hot mess. Excuse the hair. This was before my bangs got a much needed trim.







The nice thing about having little kids at Christmas is they don't know the "let's wake up really early so we can open our presents" trick. We clunked down the stairs around 8 a.m. and dived into our presents. In all my sleepiness, I didn't realize that I hadn't switched my cam back to autofocus while taking pictures of the calm before the storm and ended up with mostly blurry photos. Fortunately, I did make out with a handful of good ones. I think we were all more than content with our gifts. We have a nice happy medium as far as budget. I was very proud of the handmade gifts that I put under the tree this year. It has always been a goal of mine to give my kids handmade gifts for Christmas. I'll save those for their own post though! If I had to pick a favorite gift, it was the Pop Surrealism art book that Brian gave me. It was completely unexpected and I had been eyeing it for forever! I wish we had gotten my reaction on tape. I think it was the best one of the morning! I also got the full HP series, which, duh, I don't need to say anything else about! Emerson's favorite gift, he claims, is his percussion kit. It makes sense because he always says "you hear those drums, mom?!" while listening to his favorite songs. Eisley fancies her poplin' park Elefun, though she likes to use it as a walker a little more than for it's actual purpose. She'll walk and push just about anything that slides, I tell you. She took her first few real steps recently too! I think my favorite gift that Eisley received is her dolly from goodbyebluemonday. It's something I hope she keeps forever and maybe gives to her own daughter, if she has one, someday! Brian was ecstatic about his Crosley. If you know him, you know music is a big component of his life, so I think it was the perfect gift. After the wrapping paper was shredded. I made our cuppy breakfast (toast cups and muffins with fruit) while the kids played quietly with their new toys and Brian made sure the music was endless.





























Can I say this was the best Christmas yet? I guess I always do.

I'll leave you with a little video that I threw together with clips from all of our holiday fun!