We had such a wonderful Christmas. We intentionally planned to be in our home with just our family of four for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, as we have been anxious to get our own family traditions started. We headed to my parents' house Christmas afternoon to celebrate with my family.
Christmas Eve was pretty low-key for us. We had a lazy morning and then had a few appetizers around noon (girls included - they both loved the goat cheese/blueberry log and the Mediterranean olive dip!). After that, the girls went down for naps while Justin and I worked on the meal. This was the first time I have made a big holiday meal all on my own (with Justin's help, of course). We had ham balls, mashed potatoes, homemade crescent rolls, Christmas jello, and carrots with dill. The girls loved it and we had fun pulling the tablecloth out to make things a little more fancy. ;) They both woke up around 2 and we ate around 2:30 (weird time, I know, but it totally paid off to work around the girls' schedules... everything was relaxed and went smoothly.)
After eating, we got dressed up and headed to the 4:00 candlelight Christmas Eve service at Grace. I love candlelight services... something about a room full of people worshipping Jesus with candles in their hands... such a beautiful picture.
After church, we came home and the girls each got to open one present. They opened their new (matching) jammies and we promptly put them on and headed out for our jammy ride to look at Christmas lights. We started this when Claire was one and it has become one of my favorite traditions!
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| What could it be?! |
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| Jammies! |
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| Emma's turn! |
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| Checking themselves out in the mirror. |
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| Sister Love! |
Once the girls were in bed, Justin and I exchanged our gifts to each other. This was one of the first years (in 8 years of marriage) that we exchanged gifts to one another. It was a lot of fun!
Christmas morning started with Justin reading the story of Jesus' birth. Each night of December, we had been reading a small section of the Christmas story after dinner so it was fun on Christmas morning to read the entire story all together.
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| Listening to Daddy read |
Then the girls opened their stockings!
...and then it was time for the rest of the presents. We got each of them an individual gift and then one bigger gift to share.
The big gift was a doll playset which included a stroller, pack and play, and highchair. I mean really.. what else would these girls possibly want?! ;)
After gifts, we had cinnamon rolls, egg nog, and coffee and then headed to my parents' house.
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| The girls with Grammy and Babu. |
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| Claire can't get enough of her Babu! |
We had so much fun with Grammy, Babu, and my sister's family. It was super laid back (perfect for the kiddos)! We had appetizers and drinks in the afternoon, opened gifts, and then made pizza for the kids.
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| Emma opening a gift. |
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| Claire's turn! |
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| Joel building his new Lego set. |
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| Justin's turn! |
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| Emma and Silas doing a little building. |
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| Jorie showing off her ornament! |
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| Mom was excited about this one! |
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| Emma modeling my new scarf and hat. |
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