Two posts in one day! Yes. Because I have time to actually do it and if I wait any longer it will seem lame. So here it goes...
Coming down the stairs...
Maya got the telescope from Santa that she had been hoping for.
Santa only brings one present per child, and he totally delivered on this one!
Eden wanted a "real" guitar. And once again, Santa made her dreams come true. He even got her a rock girl outfit to go with it!
Since Santa does usually one big gift per girl, he usually goes light on the stocking stuffers...you know stuff like, tooth brushes, mini pig flashlights, head bands, hand sanitizer and chapstick. The kind of stuff every kid asks for.
Aric and I decided at Maya's first Christmas that our children would only get three gifts from mom and dad, because that is how many gifts the wise men brought Jesus. I know that they will get gifts from grandparents too and I don't want them to expect lots of presents every year. So that is how we do it.
Here is Eden with her stash...
Maya and her stash...
Because they know they don't get very many gifts they put alot of thought into what they ask for. This year they wanted High School Musical 3 dolls that came with microphones...Maya wanted Troy and Eden wanted Sharpay.
Eden had been wanting a Webkinz forever. Apparently she is the ONLY kid who doesn't have one. Lucky for her I got a BOGO deal so she got not one...but TWO!
Eden got a light bright from Grandma Kathy and Papa Ron and Maya got this table top easel. They have been playing with both of these together. They love them. They will also love the money I put into their savings account that Papa and Grandma sent.
This is a picture of the girls saying "Thank You" for the gifts that they got each other. They have around five bucks to spend and they have to earn it. I love how happy they are to give each other gifts. Hopefully that will last....
Now, just so you know, I totally hesitated to include this next picture. In fact, I originally had it cropped so you couldn't see my entire ensemble. But then I decided that this is what I looked like Christmas morning so I shouldn't leave anything out. Not even my black knee high socks with silver skulls on them.
Aric got me that red socks sweater....I was totally shocked because number one...we don't do gifts. We save money and go on trips. Number two...we are in the middle of an adoption that is costing us almost three times the amount we thought we were going to pay! Camden is our present to each other for every holiday for the next ten years! So needless to say, I was very surprised.
CHRISTMAS DINNER
Aric and Ben fried two yummy turkeys. One was BBQ and the other was an Italian dressing/garlic/butter one. SO YUMMY!
Dishin' up the goods...
We had our good friends the Hansen's join us. This was Brooke's plate. The portions made me laugh.
Here is the table....
Here are the kids at their tables...
Olivia's first year at the "grownup" table...
So there you have it. Our Christmas Day celebration. I tried to document it well. But I still didn't get pictures of the actual turkeys when they were all done, or the grown ups sitting at the "grown up " table. And I didn't get a picture of the guys watching the Strongest Man competition. Oh well...there's always next year.
Lest you forget this blog is my journal, which means I have to document everything we did. So if you skip this post I won't be offended...
My brother Ben came up from Oregon to hang out for a week.
In his free time, he is a wrestling coach so he ordered a little hat for Max. It says "Buckaroo Wrestling" on it. Some babies couldn't rock a hat like that, but Maxo sure can.
The weather caused some delays in his work so we got to have lots of "Tio Ben" time. (more on that later) My two other brothers, got stuck in Portland because of the bad roads so we missed them. My mom and step-dad Joe made it safely on Christmas Eve just in time for dinner at my sisters. She made her traditional Chicken Chowder and homemade rolls. I forgot to take pictures, but it was yummy.
This was the first time my mom got to meet Camden. They hit it off pretty well.
This year I decided it was the year to begin the ever so popular "Navity Re-inactment". For our first year we did pretty well.
Our Angels...Eden and Tessa
The Shepherds...Mari, Maya and G.
The Inn Keeper...Mom. Joseph...Aric and Mary...Olivia
Camden...the cutest baby Jesus ever!
The Three Wise Men...Papa Joe, Tio Ben and G.
Maya as King Herod...
The Wise Men delivering their gifts...
Our cast all together...Mom was also the star.
I was the narrator and Ev was in charge of pictures and video.
Then we had "The Cousin Gift Exchange". Each year the cousins draw names for gifts and on Christmas Eve they exchange them.
Last but not least we have "The Aric and Evelynne Exchange". This little tradition began about five years ago when Ev bought Aric a very festive, very vintage tie for Christmas. Aric got her a fancy/ugly Christmas pin. And so the tradition began...every year they wear their past gifts and continue to share the love.
This year Aric got a Christmas Kitty ornament, with real wiskers and dangly knees. A break from the traditional tacky accessories.
Ev got another beautiful piece of jewelry that she gets to proudly wear. This picture doesn't do them justice. The Santa has some fierce eyebrows and he is saying "Ho, Ho, Ho!"
It was a fun night and we made it home just in time to sprinkle reindeer oats on the lawn and get into bed. The girls heard Santa's bells ringing just as they were getting into bed, Maya swears she saw his sleigh.
I love Christmas. I love everything about it. I especially like to decorate my house. So I thought I would document how we do Christmas in our house...
(Oh and Natalie, you may want to stop reading now. Your lack of festiveness this year might make you feel guilty after seeing the nonsense that we call decorating...)
First comes the toy box. This musical experience is courtesy of my mother in law. The girls love it and it's the first Christmas decoration we unpack.
Then come the trees...yes that is plural. Family tree, the girls tree and my tree.
We do the family tree first which consists of ornaments we have collected over the years that represent different milestones and experiences. Aric's parents had a tradition that the kids got a new ornament every year, so we have adopted that tradition in our family. I decided to highlight a few of them.
This bike is an ornament I stole from my friend Meghann at an ornament party.
Some milestones...our first Christmas, the year the Red Sox won the world series.
The year the girls fell in love with the musical "Wicked" and the year Maya went to Disneyland for the first time.
Crazy ornaments that bring back fun memories...like the swinging lion that Aric stole from Ryan at the last ornament party. He has a special place at the top of our tree.
The homemade ones that the girls make us.
And the ones that Aric has had since he was a baby. Some of them find themselves in the back of the tree....but they are still there!
Now my tree...No one touches this tree but me. It is a work in progress as I refuse to spend a ton of money on it. So after Christmas every year I go and look for things that I would like to add to it.
While I'm working on my tree, the girls are upstairs working on theirs...
Then we have Aric's figurines. He has a fondness for them, and as much as I dislike little things everywhere...I have given in.
This Peanuts thing has so many broken pieces it's not even funny.
This carousel horse display has a specific order...ask Aric.
Then we have the Christmas story figurines...
We actually have a real life leg lamp, yes a real one. It even came in a FRAGILE (frageelay) box.
What... you mean that's too far away?!!!
It's proudly displayed by Aric in his office...which also happens to be our closet.
Now back to some more wholesome decorations.
Like these cute ones over my porch...
And the ever so wholesome gingerbread houses...not homemade, I'm all about buying the kit.
And of course the stockings. I made Aric's, mine and Maya's the year Maya was born. Aric helped pick out the fabric. As the years have gone by I've really wanted different ones that are all matchy matchy and more modern. Aric insists on keeping these, they are part of our Christmas tradition. So I just finished Camden's stocking. It is as modern and cool as I'm gonna get.
I have my nativity of course, flanked by nutcrackers...weren't they part of the story?...the girls like to help me decorate so things are extra festive.
Here is my fun table runner and centerpiece...
Unfortunately my table is rarely clean enough to enjoy how cute it is.
And here are a few other fun decorations...
My friend Riann made me these cute magnents, I put them on my light fixture that hangs over my table...ignore the dust.
The advent calendar and our Christmas Cards...
I love our built ins because it gives me more room to decorate. Here are a couple of my favorite shelves....
And last but not least the banister....
So I know we are little drunk on Christmas but that's the way we roll. It only happens once a year so we make the most of it. Even though I like things a certain way, and I actually like things a little more simple, the girls love helping and Aric rarely gets a say in anything so he may as well get his way at Christmas. It's my gift to him.
I love being surrounded by the symbols of Christmas. I love being able to teach my children about them. So our decorations aren't just decorations...they also represent the true meaning of Christmas. They represent Christ and his teachings...okay so maybe not the lion ornament or the leg lamp...but pretty much everything else.
Feliz Navidad!
