Friday, December 27, 2019

Christmas 2019

Christmas has come and gone and I know it sounds cliche but I really can't believe it!  I'm going to blame it on the really short time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and plan on thoroughly enjoying all things twinkle lights and festive for the next week :) 

We spent Christmas Eve day hanging out in our pjs, watching movies and getting a few things ready for that night.  The boys went to see Star Wars with Dave and my dad and Griffin and I hung out at home and painted our nails and curled our hair.




I was going to crop this picture because #disaster but whatever... it's clean now and I feel like it pretty accurately describes the state of my life the week of Christmas :)  These earrings are so festive and fun and on sale from $44 for $12!!! (affiliate link)


We were early for church so we headed to the square to try and grab a cute picture of the kids and it was a total fail...


... it was either too sunny...

... or out of focus for some reason (UGH!!!)...


... or people had cheeks full of mints :) hahaha



Excitement was at a high and cooperation at a low... as I should have expected.


My brother, Diana and all of their boys met us at church and we were ALL SO EXCITED!!!  Jack had RSV over Thanksgiving and then Bennett was in the hospital with it earlier in the month so having EVERYONE there had all of us pretty giddy.


This particular service is always one of my favorites. I can't resist a candlelight moment.




After church we headed back to our house for family time, food and presents.  Luke and the twins were twinning completely unplanned ;)


I took about 75 pictures and this one was the winner - that's what you get with 7 kids!  This picture makes me smile BIG because growing up our Christmases were always super "quiet" since our family lived in NC and then TX and all of our extended family lived in Canada.  It was always just the four of us (my parents, my brother and me) and we didn't really grow up with cousins at holidays and look at us now!  I love that my kids have this!




Merry Christmas to MEEEE!




Matching jams.  LOVE!


After everyone left the kids wrote their letters to Santa, we watched some Home Alone and then after the kids were asleep SANTA CAME!!!


Buddy the elf taped some butcher paper across the bottom of the stairs with "wait for your parents" written on it.  Once it was a reasonable hour and the tea had been made we let them bust through the paper and the fun began...



The boys each got big sports nets (Mason got a football net and Luke got a net that he can hit golf balls into) and Griffin got a play cafe.


It was such a fun morning...







My parents came by later in the morning and I made brunch...


... and we exchanged gifts with them.  Griffin was SO EXCITED to give them the campfire roasting sticks she picked out at the Christmas market we went to back in November...


... and my mom MADE G this fairy garden!  The rocks and moss and stuff are all glued down but all of the pieces she can play with and make little scenes outside. It's right up Griffin's alley and was such a sweet gift.


When we were growing up my parents had a sjoelbak board that my grandparents had given them.  It's a dutch game and we played it on holidays and randomly throughout the year.  Dave and I have talked on multiple occasions about how we have lots of really fond memories involving sjoelbak.  My parents board is probably 40 years old and has seen better days so we got our family a new board and it was a huge hit!  My kids are OBSESSED!


It was REALLY warm on Christmas so we were able to play outside for a bit...





... before heading to Dave's aunts house for lunch and more family time.  The only pictures I took were these...


... Mason and Stephen are in the next picture throwing the football... it was a gorgeous afternoon!


We got home, cleaned up a bit, played some more and CRASHED!


It was a SWEET day and I have no family pictures to prove it so you'll just have to take my word for it - hahaha  

And here's a little peek into our morning and TRUST ME watch until the end :) 


Happy Thursday, friends!!!

11 comments :

  1. What a wonderful holiday! I didn't take a single photo Christmas day-- not one! But we had a great day too.

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  2. What a beautiful and fun family Christmas!

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  3. Ha! Our grandkids have a 'Reindeer Run' with a traveling trophy. They all have to wear antlers and run the race. It got a little rough this year and one of them got run over by a fellow reindeer - her brother.....He nailed her good!

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  4. I look forward to Christmas Eve candlelight service all year! We sit in the balcony also!

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  5. I love that Fairy Garden I am 60 and would love one myself. So cute and fun. Happy New Year.

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  6. Looks like everyone had a happy day!

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  7. What a sweet Christmas for you and your family. Any special gifts for you?

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  8. So fun!! So was that the kitchen that Griffin wanted? I thought it was funny that she thought it wasn't if it actually wasn't! And even my kids got a little giggle out of the last part. :)

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  9. What a wonderful Christmas you had! it's so nice you got to spend so much time with family! We travel to my parents for Christmas, I've never thought of inviting them here instead. My mum does cook so much better than me though, ha!

    We had a great Christmas time too with family and so much good food!

    Away From Blue

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  10. Ahh, I totally missed out on those earrings but I found a cute dupe on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/VK-Accessories-Christmas-Different-Reindeer/dp/B07JVBYF27/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=bow+earrings&qid=1577669027&sr=8-16)

    if you want to afflink that, i'll happily click it over that way! I just <3 your blog. Happy New Year!

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