On Christmas Eve, we went to Mimi & Pops' house in the morning. We had brunch with my family and opened gifts. The girls have become good helpers when it's time to pass out all the presents!
The biggest gift for the smallest person.
Auntie K outdid herself!
The best family picture we have from all of Christmas.
We enjoy going to the candlelight service on Christmas Eve, which the girls enjoyed but were a bit wiggly through, so we knew we had to make cookies early on. The girls helped me make some sugar cookie dough. We borrowed cookie cutters from my mom & dad {I only have hearts, remember??} and cut out a few Christmas shapes. We mixed up some red, green, and white icing and using our holiday sprinkles to decorate all of our cookies! The girls were very helpful & taste tested the final result. They considered them Santa-worthy cookies!
Someone got her nose in a little powdered sugar...
After church on Christmas Eve, we snuggled up to watch The Polar Express. We've been doing this since Nora's second Christmas {when she first wasn't sleeping most of the time}. Nora didn't enjoy some parts of the movie but all was well at the end. I find this movie to be so magical and well done. I hope the girls will eventually pick up on and look forward to this tradition with me.
Snuggled up with the girls!
We left some milk & cookies out for Santa and read The Night Before Christmas before tucking the girls in to bed. Everything was ready for a special visit from the man in the red suit! Even Baby Jo is all tucked in...
Janie is typically the one to get out of bed and come downstairs first. We heard her come down half way, see the presents under the tree and yell "HE CAME!!" before running back upstairs to tell Nora. Surprisingly, they didn't come into our room at all. Nora probably told Janie that they weren't supposed to get out of bed yet and somehow she actually listened to her sister. So, Justin and I went to retrieve them from their rooms so the fun could begin.
We have so many toys, y'all. We tried really hard to keep the toys on the girls' lists to a minimum. I also tried very hard to keep everything, in general, to a minimum. We stuck to the four gift system: something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. The girls asked for small, simple things from Santa and he delivered: slinky, yo-yos, scarves, and oven mitts. He also threw in a bonus: scooters! The girls had fun playing with them outside as it was a pretty warm day for December - no jackets!
Just what she asked for... a slinky
Janie excited to learn how to work the yo-yo!
Reading new books from mom & dad.
The girls' new toys: princess puppies!
Thanks Santa!
Ford gets treats, too!
The days that followed Christmas morning were filled with lots of get togethers with friends and family. We enjoy so much having family around here that we can celebrate holidays with. The girls loved seeing Grandpa, Grandma, cousin Hunter, plus more & exchanging gifts. They each picked out gifts for their family members and were so happy to wrap & gift them to every one. We spent quality time with our loved ones, cherishing what is most important about the holidays. And, there was a lot of cooking & eating!
Nora helping mommy cook.
The end result! YUM.
We had such a great Christmas. We are now switching gears to New Years, which means... Janie is having a birthday!! Stay tuned...
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