Christmas Has Come And Gone

The holiday season is officially over and my husband is back to work and my son is back to school today.  The Christmas tree and all of the decorations are still out and my husband said he's not ready to put it all away yet.  Christmas comes and goes so quickly.  Aside from going to the in-law's, the local amusement park and Chuck E Cheese it was a pretty low key vacation and most of our time was spent here at home.  I wish we could have done more but it has been so cold outside.

We stayed at home on Christmas Eve and waited for Santa to come by on the firetruck.  By 8pm we heard the sirens and rushed outside to wait for him.  Then we went inside to put on pajamas, left milk and cookies out (I made soooo many cookies it's ridiculous) and then tucked the kids into bed.  I woke up on Christmas morning and found my son sitting under the tree holding his new gift from "Santa."  He wanted an electronic tablet and received just that.  He's a good boy and very deserving.  We woke up our daughter, who wasn't happy about having to get out of bed so early.  Even though she was cranky she had fun opening her gifts as her brother opened his.  We didn't buy them as much as we have in the past but they still got a lot.  Anytime we asked our daughter what she wanted for Christmas she kept saying, "a lollipop and M&M's."  It was so cute.  So yes that's what she got from "Santa" and also a stuffed Minnie Mouse doll.

My husband bought me the Duck Dynasty Christmas CD, a bottle of wine and a new camera.  The camera was a huge surprise and I love it.  The biggest regret was that I didn't buy much for him this year.  He deserves to be spoiled.  Next year for sure, babe!

After exchanging gifts I made breakfast for everyone and then laid the little one down for a nap.  After an hour I had to wake her up, again she wasn't happy about that.  We spent the afternoon and evening at my in-law's house.  My parents were on Long Island spending the holiday with the rest of my family so they came over a few days later to have Christmas with us.

We stayed home on New Year's Eve and Matthew insisted on staying up until midnight to watch the ball drop on T.V.  He made it, barely.  The three of us rang in the new year together while our daughter was asleep in her crib.

Now it's time to enjoy another new year.  The best has yet to come. 

By the way, I love my new camera.  It's a Nikon 1 J3.  I've never owned a Nikon before and it's been great so far.  There are so many features and options.  I'm still learning and hope to figure it all out so by spring and summer I can take the kids outside and get some great pictures of them.  

The Season Has Begun

Can you believe that it's almost Christmas?  22 days to be exact!  My son is counting down and reminds me every morning of how many days we have.  He's so excited.  My daughter, being only two, still doesn't quite understand what Christmas is all about but seeing the tree and the decorations are enough to get her excited.  When she sees Santa she'll say "Jesus" but that's okay.  It's the best time of the year for these children and I love seeing the holidays through their eyes.

The day after Thanksgiving we took all the decorations out of the attic and started to set everything up.  The artificial pre-lit tree we've had for the last 7 or so years had a few strands of lights that stopped working.  My husband,who already tried fixing it last year, decided instead of fussing over it again it was time to get a new one.  The new one is smaller than the other but it's perfect.  The kids busied themselves decorating most of it.  There are still plenty of bare spots around the tree but that just leaves more room to add onto our ornament collection in the years to come.  We have a tradition of buying a new ornament or two each year and that's something we still have to do for this year.  We don't have many decorations for the house but what we have is enough.

 

 The angel that sits on top of our tree was a gift from my mother-in-law years ago.  She keeps watch over us during the Christmas season.  

The stockings are hanging from a shelf in our living room.  In the middle is our porcelain nativity scene, also from Mother-In-Law. 

 A little garland wraps around the bannister.  Excuse the boxes.  They have to go back in the attic.

And here's my homemade snowman behind the door.  I love this!  Thank you Pinterest!  

We have a collection of stuffed toys too.  The children had fun adding window cling stickers to the living room window.

Our next step is getting the outside decorating done but since my husband has been fighting a horrible cold he hasn't had the chance.  I love how the neighborhood homes are already setting up.

I started a new tradition with the kids.  I bought them each an advent calendar.  Every day you open up a door and there is a small chocolate candy surprise.  My uncle bought one for me when I was little and I've been wanting to do the same for my kids.  I also found an advent calendar you can do with Bible verses but we have some catching up to do there.

Also, this time of year means lots of food, candy, cake, pies, etc. will be consumed.  A good reason to break a sweat with the 30 Day Challenge.