christmas 2015

hope you all had a good christmas with your loved ones! we made it through our first christmas in seattle with just the four of us and it was pretty wonderful aside from ashford feeling a bit under the weather (read: lots of meltdowns and clingyness). 

a little recap of our days...

christmas eve

thatcher had to work on christmas eve, so most of the day just felt "regular". we had no where to be, so the kids and i stayed in our jammies til the late afternoon. azalea thought that was "so silly" and asked why we weren't wearing clothes multiple times. apparently we don't have pajama days enough. ha. in the morning we made sugar cookies for santa. the kids love to bake, so it was a good activity. 

i was hoping for a nice relaxing afternoon to myself while they napped, but ashford only slept for a little over an hour and azalea was up for most of that time, so that was a bust. ashford cried for a good hour after his nap while i held him. my poor boy. thatcher got home a little early in the late afternoon. at 5pm, azalea and i went to a service at a nearby lutheran church. it was our first time attending a church here (i've been meaning to try a different place where our upstairs neighbors go, but their service wasn't at a good time). i left ashford home with thatcher because i knew he wouldn't sit well for it and i needed a little break ;) apparently he cried for me the whole time we were gone. :( it was a really nice service. i found myself tearing up quite a few times from missing my dad while also overwhelmed with peace about the significance of jesus' birth. 

we came back and skyped with my family back home.

then we had a delicious dinner of salmon, crab cakes, cous cous, broccoli, bread, and leftover birthday cake for dessert. (i think we'll be having leftover birthday cake on christmas for the rest of our lives). ha. after dinner we opened most of the gifts, leaving a few things for christmas morning. the kids were pretty thrilled! 

 then it was time to put out cookies and milk for santa, and carrots for the reindeer before the kids headed to bed. 

christmas day

by some miracle, the kids didn't wake up until after 7am! they made their way out to see what santa brought them.

 azalea has been asking for a dollhouse since november, and of course santa delivered. but the first thing she said when she saw it was "a dollhouse?! how did santa get that through there?!" thatcher and i laughed. ashford was pretty excited about the train set that santa brought him, but he loves the dollhouse just as much (if not more). 

we had eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast then opened the rest of our gifts. the rest of the morning we snuggled on the couch and watched kid shows and the kids helped thatcher bake hoagie rolls in their new aprons. 

in the afternoon, i napped with ashford because i felt like i was catching whatever he has. we made meatball hoagie sandwiches for dinner and they were delicious! after dinner, we decided to take an impromptu trip to drive around and look at christmas lights. i did a quick search online to see if there were any areas famous for their lights near us and there was! i got the kids in their christmas jammies before we went and they even let me take a picture of them in front of the tree.

so, that's the glossy recap version of our christmas. but i always feel compelled to reflect on the realness of our days, especially in this time of seemingly perfect holidays every where you look on social media. admittedly at times i found myself slipping into a funk  when things weren't going the way i envisioned.

- there were tons of tantrums, meltdowns, and fights over toys and a few times i thought i was going to completely lose it. 
- my strong-willed preschooler refused to wear the christmas jammies i got her on christmas eve (i was shocked when she asked to wear them christmas night). 
- my kids refused to eat most of the food we prepared for them, including cinnamon rolls on christmas morning (what kids won't eat those?!)
- at times it didn't "feel" like christmas

but i quickly reminded myself there are people who wish their biggest problems on christmas were the ones i just listed. i have friends who wish they had children to snuggle, people who wish their child didn't have a serious illness, others who don't have money to buy their kids gifts, cook them a nice meal, or provide them with a stable home, people who haven't seen their extended family in years. i really am so so lucky for the life i have and am working every day to never take it for granted.