Christmas Eve was a really hard one for us. I had worked on the 23rd and came home to a baby girl that had the stomach flu and was Up. All. Night. So Christmas Eve, While Kit was at set up, all five of our services and tear down at church, I wasn't able to take the kids to our candle light service, or meet up with friends after naps, or eat really anything that wasn't on the BRAT diet. Boo!
We did our best to rally. I sent a text to a small group of close friends and asked for prayer for the day. I swear, it made all the difference! (Thanks sweet friends!)
So in our attempt to rally with good attitudes:
We made waffles
(as bland as I possibly could for my little sickie...)
We used our new chalk board placemats and the kids decorated them for their breakfast.
It was a complete hit!
Eden's face says it all...
She wanted to be with us doing what we were doing. She was just so wiped out! Poor baby girl...
After breakfast, we all snuggled in bed for reading time with our Christmas books.
(She fell asleep for over two hours...)
While she slept, Ryder skipped nap and we had some fun with cocoa and making our first list/letter for Santa!
Mine was VERY STRONG coffee:
I was the "as told to" for the letter...♥
Then he played and when Eden woke up, we snuggled up and watched "The Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas":
(She was definitely feeling better after her nap... Praise the Lord!)
The afternoon and evening was spent finishing up wrapping for Kit's family next week and making our cookies for Santa and finishing up laundry from the night before...
She was definitely acting like her old self by the time bedtime rolled around...
They could not wait until Christmas morning!
We ended the day watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".
Then for Christmas day:
Santa came to our house:
We heard Ryder wake up and come out of his room, but beofre he came into our room, s nuck tothe top of the stairs, looked down at the tree, and we heard him whisper, "PRESENTS!" Then he walked down the stairs to see that there were foot prints from the fire place, the treats had been eaten, and there were presents in their stockings.
He then RAN up to our room to let us know that it was Christmas morning...
Eden slept in so Ryder helped me make the cinnamon rolls:
(Yep, super complicated recipe...♥)
It was SO HARD for him to wait for his sister to wake up...
He then RAN up to our room to let us know that it was Christmas morning...
Eden slept in so Ryder helped me make the cinnamon rolls:
(Yep, super complicated recipe...♥)
When she did, we all came together and read the story of Christmas together on the couch. The cinnamon rolls were done and we had candles and sang happy birthday to Jesus. It's funny, we didn't do as many still photos this year, but instead took so much video, and I can't wait for Kit to get it all in one movie that we can watch for years to come!
The Christmas toys this year were: books for both kiddos, for Eden, my german doll and clothes from when I was little, and for Ryder, a football helmet and Planes search and rescue toys.
The kids were so excited!
Kit and I had decided not to exchange presents because of ALL of the house projects that we had recently tackled and that we didn't need anything, but a few days before chrsitmas, our coffee pot broke, so Kit surprised me with this:
He gets me.♥
The enthusiasm the kids had was amazing, they kept talking about how great the morning was, and saying thank you for everything... Everyone was healthy and we were in our new house together.
It was just such an incredible Christmas morning!
Then we headed to Redlands:
We started off our time together with an incredible meal...
Pasta, of course!
My mom had crackers for everyone:
After the meal we opened presents:
The kids seriously just made this time so fun! They were so excited for everyone and what everyone got, they asked about opening their presents and then got so excited with each gift!
It killed me it was so precious!
The girlies got matching outfits and Eden was all about wearing hers ASAP!
Ryder recieved tools and a camo shirt and binoculars and justhad the best time playing with everything!
Eden got appliances, baking stuff, and play food for her kitchen:
She was in HEAVEN!
Our Ruby got a big girl bike:
The girls!
That night we drove around and looked at lights and then when the kids were asleep we watched the "The 100 Foot Journey." I cried. It was really good!
The next day, my sister went with her family to see their family in Huntington Beach.
So we took Kit to the museum and made a Costco run:
Kit had never been to the museum and the kids were SO excited to show him all the favorites:
The mammal hall is our favorite!
Then we went home, the kids and Kit took naps and then we smoked a pork tenderloin for dinner and talked and laughed.
It was really fun!
Kit was feeling under the weather, but we left with our hearts feeling so full on the time that we spent together!
(Over the weekend, Kit and I got a horrible stomach flu and were just miserable for a majority of the weekend, Yuck!)
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This week we are planning to head to Santa Maria to be with our family there.
We are so excited to be off the entire week together and we are excited to ring in the New Year with people that we love!
