our Christmas season was very sweet this year. being in a new place helped us rely on each other to make it a cozy and tender holiday together as a family. we feel so very blessed to be where we are and living the life we have been given.
the Friday before Christmas Chris and I realized that Owen has never been to see Santa except when he was a baby. the bigger kids haven't wanted to visit him the past couple years because they say they are growing up or some sort of nonsense like that, which means that the younger kids haven't been in a while. so, the Saturday before Christmas we braved the crowds and headed into the Easton mall to visit Santa. it did not disappoint! plus, the line moved really quickly, so we were in and out in 30 minutes.
we got there early to beat the crowds (not early enough!), so when Santa arrived we watched him walk in. he was walking past the line and he stopped, walked over to Owen, said hello and shook his hand, then walked to his seat. Owen's little mind was blown!
a creepy little elf hanging behind the photographer that made Chris laugh hysterically!
Christmas wish items were:
jack- an archery target
Ellie- the sisters Grimm book series
Charlie- legos and books
Owen- laser and water guns
as we walked away Owen shouted
"THAT
WAS
AWWWWWE
SOME!"
with his head thrown back to the sky.
totally worth it :)
we had stop by the lego store while at the mall of course. the kids could spend a week in there.
while we were at the mall, jack decided to use his saved money to buy each of the kids a Christmas gift and slipped away with Chris while the rest of us waited in line to see santa. he surprised them a day or two later and let them open their gifts because he was too excited to make them wait until Christmas Day. sometimes they can be nice to each other ;)
we did our annual neighbor/friend gift delivery of martinelli sparkling cider and it wasn't until the last bottle that I realized I spelled Christmas wrong. this isn't the first year I've spelled something wrong on these tags lol!
we have made some very good friends since moving here. their family moved in the week before us, so we have been able to navigate the ward and the schools and the community together and it has been a huge blessing! so thankful for the Rich family! anyways, they have a tradition of going caroling to the fire and police stations, the hospital, and friend's homes on Christmas Eve and they invited us to join them since Chris was on call and we weren't able to join up with the rest of the Brower family at Amy's house.
as you may or may not know, our family does NOT sing. like, not at all. but with Chris at work I felt like I should force the kids to do it because it wasn't about us. it was about singing to those that were sacrificing their holidays to serve our community.
so we went and we all had so much fun!
Jeremy even made delicious hot cocoa for us to enjoy in between stops. our family only sang at 4 places with the rich's, but we truly had a blast! Chris got off work in time for cocoa and one caroling stop.
after caroling we went home for our annual Christmas Eve spaghetti dinner!
the kids picked out grandma and grandpa gifts to open on Christmas Eve. well, everyone except for Ellie, who wisely saved all her gifts to open on Christmas morning.
legos!!!
jack really wanted to take the picture with a creeper face...
I worked hard during the day to get everything ready, so I didn't have to wrap or prep anything that night... usually we stay up super late watching movies and wrapping gifts and then are so tired Christmas morning. this year, we kept things simple with only three gifts per child and then their stockings. I think it was perfect and the kids seemed very happy with their gifts and were able to actually focus on each thing rather than go from one thing to the next. all we did Christmas Eve was set out gifts, get sticky buns ready and set the table for breakfast, then waited for Santa to do the rest. easy peasy.
not only did Chris get a new weber earlier in the month, he and I also got a jumbo weber for Christmas. dreams do come true!
Chris and the kids put together a special gift for me. it was a new glass drink jar (my other one was knocked on the floor and shattered a couple months ago. they had each written my name out with words that described me using the letters of my name. those were taped on the outside. and then the inside was filled part way with lindor truffles and a bunch of compliments written on slips of paper. with my love language being words of affirmation, this was a special gift to me.
santa brought one gift this year (besides stockings).
after presents we had our traditional sticky buns and a sausage and egg casserole.
Owen started coughing a couple days before Christmas, but Christmas morning he woke up feeling pretty crummy! once all the excitement wore off I asked him if he wanted to play laser tag and he said "hmmmm. can i sit in a baff?". poor little guy was exhausted. so we made it an especially bubbly, bubble bath.
the kids were super impressed that Chris can still do backflips on the tramp!
Christmas dinner was quite the debate for several days leading up to the day. some of the kids wanted to do a traditional ham dinner and others wanted burgers. when daddy finally asked me what I wanted, there was no question. so burgers it was!
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