The Merriest of Days - Christmas 2019

After a month long build up, and so many incredible activities and memories, Christmas finally arrived and we could not have been happier.  We started the week with church or what I call Christmas Sunday which is my very favorite.  I love the songs and the spirit, and the re-telling of the story of Jesus' birth.  I also super love dressing Luke and Ruby up in special Christmas outfits.  Luckily, they still like getting fancy and get excited about their new clothes as well.  Now don't think they are perfect...we still had to coax and beg to get them to cooperate with pictures, but with a lot of patience, we got the shots.

Always have to have a few silly ones

Luke and Ruby had picked out gifts for each other, and were super excited about what they bought.  After surviving the photo session, we decided to let them exchange gifts and open these gifts early.  Luke had seen a sparkly unicorn watch and begged to buy it for Ruby - of course she loved it.  Ruby picked out an art kit for Luke - she knew he loved hers and wanted to get him his own.  They were equally excited to give and receive and it was sweet them pick out something so meaningful.

On the "day before the night before Christmas", we told the kids that we had a very special present for each of the.  Since the time the kids were newborns, I have been keeping a bag of clothes that were favorites, or had special memories, with the intention of having quilts made one day.  After hoarding the clothes for years I finally found someone who could make the quilts.  I took her everything in August and we talked about what I wanted.  I told her that I wanted the blankets for Christmas and a few weeks before she started texting me pictures of her progress.  They honestly made me cry - in the best possible way.  Each outfit and scrap of material brought back so many memories and just reminded me of how incredibly blessed we are to have these two little ones.  I realize that for a lot of kids a blanket would not seem that exciting, but I know Luke and Ruby and knew how much the blankets would mean to them.  They love to point to different blocks and ask me about the outfit, where they got it, where they wore it, etc.  I have a feeling we will be doing this for a very long time and it just makes me so happy to see them wrapped up with so many great memories.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were probably our best ever. We had the best time celebrating, in fact we were having so much fun together that I barely thought to take any photos.  We spent Christmas Eve at home, my parents and Cory and MJ joined us.  We stuck with tradition, steak and shrimp and had a relaxing meal and evening together.  After watching a few videos about the nativity to remind us of the true reason for the season, everyone got new jammies and then willingly headed to bed to make sure Santa had plenty of time to visit.  

All was calm,

But we snuck and got a picture of a special visitor...

Christmas morning I got up before the sun and went out for my traditional Christmas morning run.  When I saw it was snowing, I thought briefly about staying home, but I am so glad that I just put on my shoes and went.  I know most people sound crazy, but that morning run is one of my favorite parts of the day.  I spent the first half listening to a pod cast about Mary and what an incredible person she was.  The author shared a lot of insight and ideas that I hadn't ever considered.   I ran about five miles and when I got back, I spent a few minutes on the porch stretching, listening to some of my favorite Christmas songs, and just thinking about how blessed I am.  The snow made it feel so quiet and peaceful and set the stage for a perfect Christmas day with my family.  

After sleeping in much longer than expected, everyone finally woke up and got excited about all of the presents under the tree.  Having the entire family together made it a little more chaotic, but definitely more special.  We opened presents, had breakfast, opened new toys, and just took advantage of having everyone here.  

Ruby had been hoping for snow, and was thrilled to wake up to a winter wonderland

After playing with new toys for awhile, we headed to Santaquin where the cousins were super excited to exchange stories of Christmas morning.  The rest of the afternoon  was full of family, food and fun.  Again, very few pictures, but everyone had such a great day together.  When we made it home the house was a disaster (toys, boxes, wrapping paper, etc.), and we were all super tired, but I think we all went to bed grateful for such an awesome Christmas. 

Must Be Santa...Santa Clause

This year Luke and Ruby started dreaming about Santa early - I think they wrote their first letter to him before Halloween.  They were definitely interested in letting him know the details of their wish lists, but its funny to see how interested they are in him.  We have spent a lot of time over the past three months talking about Santa: where he lives, how he travels, how nice he is, what about Mrs. Clause, where does everyone live at the North Pole, if we went there as explorers could we see Santa and his elves or would they all be hiding or camouflaged, why are there so many different Santas and which is the real one, etc., etc.  Anytime I didn't have a great answer, Luke would beg me to ask Google and I would have to get to work researching.  Out of all of the magic of the season, watching my kids experience Santa Clause is one of my very favorite parts.

We continued the tradition of getting pictures of the kids taken wearing Christmas jammies.  This time we made the shots even better with Santa Clause (and a familiar face)

Tim was the best sport,

And loved dressing up as the jolly old elf.  

The season started out with a great memory of a visit to Santa seven years ago.  Sometimes it is hard to remember that they were all once so small - but it is easy to remember how much Erika and Brycen loved baby Luke and fun it was to take them all to see Santa together. 

Seven years later the group had changed quite a bit, but we were all happy to be back in Santa's house, telling him about our Christmas wishes.

Speaking of wishes, the kids had some pretty great ones to deliver.

We got one last chance to see Santa the Saturday before Christmas.  Seems like a safe bet to make sure you touch base with him a few days before the big day.  This ended up being an outing with my friend Kristina and her twins that are three.  Luke and Ruby went first to show how it was done, and by the time it was the twins' turn, they had lost interest.  Kinda typical for their age.  But Luke and Ruby still had a great time and I was glad they got to have one last visit.