Christmas: It truly is the MOST wonderful time of the year!

Our Christmas was quiet this year...well, quiet in terms of it was just my tight-knit foursome and no one else joined us.  But with two hyper, squealing girls at home it wasn't at all quiet....  Anyway, I made some traditional Christmas Eve foods for dinner (couldn't pass up the chance to to eat the best appetizers ever just because we had no extended family over; now we will have enough leftovers for a week!  I cooked the ENTIRE day except for a small break to shower and do my hair!).  We didn't do anything extra special really.  It's hard when there's only 4 of us at home!  We played some Christmas carols on the piano, watched some Christmas movies and we explained (in the simplest terms possible) about how the next day was Jesus' birthday and we give each other presents because it's a day of celebration.  That just went right over Lucy and Piper's heads.  It's hard to teach toddlers the real meaning of Christmas but I know someday it will stick so I must keep trying!

Thankfully, the girl's actually slept 'til 7 AM on Christmas morning!  We were SO relieved to look at the clock and see it was a decent hour to get up! They were very anxious and Shawn and I were terrified they'd sneak out of their bedroom in the night (or early the next morning) so we put the baby gate up at the top of the stairs. When Lucy saw this the next morning she first cried and in her most dramatic voice ever, threw back her head and exclaimed "NOW WE'LL NEVER GET TO SEE OUR PRESENTS!"  And then when I explained Daddy would move the gate as soon as Mommy set up the camera, she calmed down and instead tried to slide underneath it to sneak out....There was about a 5 inch gap from the bottom of the gate to the floor- she's skinny enough that it almost worked... little stinker!

Anyway, I set up the cameras and down they flew!  Seriously- Piper's big diaper slid her down our steep stairs like she was sledding and she was off!

My girls are always royally spoiled on the holidays from all of our extended families, so even though there is only 2 of them, presents still took a good while to open. They got everything they wanted and more.  We are a lucky bunch.  We got great gifts from all over the United States! Nana Raine even drove a truck full of hot chocolate right to my doorstep ;)  Haha, she cut her and Pops' faces out of a picture, glued them to a toy truck and mailed it to me saying that she loved me so much that she was personally delivering her homemade Hot chocolate to me! :)

Our hearts were a little sad that we weren't with any of our extended family; we wanted to share this special Holiday with them all and physically be there to give and receive hugs.  But we sent love across the miles and we were able to FaceTime and phone chat as well, so that helped.  Modern technology CAN be a wonderful thing!

Now our bellies are still full from 2 days of party and stocking food, and I'm exhausted from the craziness of the last couple days.  Can't wait to snuggle up in my warm bed and sleeeeeeeep!

Here are some pictures from the week leading up to Christmas, and Christmas itself :)

Piper is too much cuteness for me to handle!  Love this Unicorn!

Do you wanna build a Snowman?

 

Piper was scared of Santa a few weeks ago, but this time look! She's reaching up to him!! Such a sweetie!

Shawn makes me laugh so hard! I went in for a kiss and he non-nonchalantly grabbed my buns! HA!

Lucky Fella to get Kisses under the Mistletoe from such sweet little ladies :)

Waiting for Santa to drive down our street on a Fire Truck!

CHRISTMAS EVE.  My favorite picture!

Lucy's funny faces never cease to make me laugh!  And Maisy is as big as her already!

Look at Lucy's eyes. She always crosses them!  She is such a silly STINKER!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a GOOD NIGHT!