Christmas Recap

We had a great Christmas this year, & as I always say, it was our best one yet. Ruby & Noah are at such good ages & I love creating a fun Christmas for them. Our month was full of Christmas activities & traditions & they couldn't get enough of it. After dinner on Christmas Eve we drove around & looked at all the Christmas lights & while Noah craned his neck to look out the window, Ruby talked about how beautiful it all was, & Tyler & I talked about all the traditions we want to have for our family. We came home & set out the sugar cookies we had made for Santa & Ruby asked Tyler to take her outside just one more time to see if they could see Santa before she went to bed. I realized this year that I really love Christmas Eve more than I love Christmas day. And I just know that I'm going to miss the days of having toddlers at Christmas. Ruby woke us up & loved seeing all the presents Santa had delivered & was wide-eyed throughout all the unwrapping. I love that girl's excitement. And I was amazed at how quickly Noah caught on to what was going on & got right in there ripping open his presents. And now we've packed away all of Christmas until next year, when we do this whole thing all over again. And I can't wait!

 

 

 

 

 



Merry Christmas!

I always love the Sunday before Christmas & getting to see all of the little kids in their outfits & listening to the Christmas program at church. It always makes me feel ready for Christmas to come. We are pretty pumped for Thursday to roll around at our house & so far I'm succeeding in making my children love the holiday as much as I do. I feel like the month is jam packed with activities & shopping & baking, etc. but I think this year will be one that I'll look back on with such great memories.

 

 

 

We've been making a conscious effort to make this time of year Christ-centered for our family. We've been reading books about Jesus' birth & reenacting the nativity & the video below has been on repeat at our home. I think on a daily basis Ruby asks to watch the baby Jesus video. She loves this story & is so interested in baby Jesus. I love how the simple beauty of this miraculous event can even affect a toddler. And I've found that as we've made this more of a focus in our home, the stress that inevitably accompanies this holiday has decreased, while our peace has increased.



It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

The month of December has been such a fun one so far for our family. I've decided that 3 years old is the perfect age for Christmas - Ruby seems to fully "get" what it's all about & is still at the age where she has no expectations. Everything has been so exciting & fun for her. Everyone needs toddlers at Christmas time! We've tried to start a lot of family traditions this year as we want to create fun memories for our kids over the years. We started our Elf on the Shelf & it's been a hit! As soon as Ruby wakes up she's searching all over for the elf she named Sparkly. And she gets such a kick out of the different places she finds him & will usually laugh & say, "That silly little elf!"

We made a gingerbread house & I think Ruby thought she had died & gone to heaven. I love how excited she gets over the little things. She kept saying, "This house is SO beautiful! Isn't it gorgeous mommy?" Gingerbread houses have never been so fun.

 

 Noah is still too young to know much of what this Christmas stuff is all about but he is loving all the decorations & just kind of watches everything Ruby does & talks about. And I'm amazed because he has been awesome about not messing with all of my not-so-kid-friendly décor. That boy is a good one & I'm looking forward to watching him open his presents this year. I love this time of year & I feel awfully grateful to spend it with these people that I love most.