By this point on Christmas Eve, Nathan and I were exhausted but still had to get everything ready to host Christmas for my family the next day. We were told that there was a Christmas Mass at 9:00 the next morning, so we had to be ready early too! Luckily, we are a great team and it all got done fairly easily:)
We try very hard to raise our children without a sense of entitlement. We want them to not worry about what others get or have but instead to be grateful for the blessings they do have. We want Christmas to be about Jesus while still enjoying a little of the magic we enjoyed as kids ourselves. We decided the best way for us to do that was to keep things simple. Santa does visit our house but not the Elf on the Shelf. I worried that my kids would be jealous of other kids who do have one, but they didn't seem to mind at all. They are such good kids! I don't have a problem with Elf on the Shelf, we just decided it was not necessary for our family in our quest to keep Christmas simple. We also make a big deal out of choosing two angels from the Salvation Army Angel Tree to shop for. Madeline and Will get so excited to do this every year! We do have an Advent calendar and do many church related activities to prepare for the Christmas season as well.
A few years ago, we decided to have them write letter to Santa asking for something they want, something they need, something they can wear and something they can read. It keeps things organized and helps them really think through what they ask for. Then Santa does his best to oblige their wishes and adds some stocking stuffers of his own:)
They were so excited to see their gifts that morning! Madeline wrote Mallory's letter for her asking for a toy purse, some sippy cups, a new outfit, and the Pat the Bunny book.
Madeline asked for a scooter, new earrings, a pair of TOMS, and Judy Moody books. She later sent him an amendment to her list. She had decided she wanted Dork Diary books instead but Santa was sweet and gave her both!
Will asked for a Lego Police Station, a bigger box for his Legos, a Spider Man costume, and Lego books. Do you see a bit of a theme with him:)
Santa spent almost 2 hours getting this done. It looks simple but had like 6 booklets of directions! These sets are so detailed.
Will was blown away!
Cool Spider Man!
Madeline showing off her earrings.
Mallory took a quick look at her gifts but was more interested in getting some breakfast, so Nana took care of that!
We all ate breakfast and got dressed for church. I was pretty impressed that we were able to accomplish all of this with no melt downs in time to take a few pictures before leaving at 8:40!
Here's our family all dressed up!
Apparently we got a little miss information about church. When we pulled up, there was no one there. We found out that there was only a Christmas Eve service this year! So we went home and read the readings for Christmas together as a family. Way to improvise!
Then it was time to open family gifts. You can see how excited Mallory was!
She sure loved having her Nana around to spoil her:)
Nathan loved the fancy new skillet from my parents. I'm happy too. That man sure can cook!
My parents got Mallory this cute little dress up mirror that she loves! It does so many things and is just perfect for her age.
Will got the Lego mine and he and Pawpaw spent the rest of the day putting it together. They were so proud of the finished product!
Madeline got the American Girl doll, Caroline. She also got all of her books and was so excited!
I sure love that she asked for so many books. Here she is with them all spread out. This girl sure loves to read!!!
Side note: Don't you love the Christmas mess in the background. My OCD self wants to jump in the picture and clean it up! I also just noticed that Maddie put Caroline in Mallory's Bumbo seat, so funny!
Will with his new Lego sets on his Lego table in the playroom. Let me tell you that this has provided hours of entertainment for him!
Nathan cooked an amazing dinner for us all, as usual! I hate that we didn't get a picture of it. We also had some snow during that time! Nathan was so excited and cracked us up going back and forth between cooking and checking the weather on his i pad:)
It was such a nice Christmas and I am so thankful that we did not have the bad weather and power outages that so many of our friends had to deal with all over the state.
I'm adding these last pictures a little out of order, but just noticed I had not posted it on this blog. On December 23, Mallory turned 6 months old! I can't believe she has gone from this tiny little newborn:
To this cute little baby, already sitting up on her own! It's so cute that she looks like she is pointing at the sign:)
I'm still in shock that she is already halfway through her first year! It has gone by so fast. At her doctor's appointment, she weighed in at 14 1/2 lbs and was 26 inches long. She's a little squirt compared to her brother and sister at this age:) She wears 3-6 month clothes but is almost ready for 6-9 month. If we put her in a disposable diaper, she still wears a size 2. She is sitting unassisted and starting to roll a lot more. She loves the sound of her voice and is starting to babble. She lights up for her Daddy and brother and sister but is a major Mama's girl. She still won't take a bottle and we are hoping she will learn to drink from a sippy cup soon. She loves every kind of food we have given her and makes the cutest mmmmm sounds when we put her in her highchair.
It is amazing how much she has grown and changed and I am so excited to see how much she changes in the next 6 months!
