2018 christmas celebrations

another christmas has come and gone. but never fear - i'm gonna hold onto the last of the holiday magic until new years day when we will take down our tree. of course i much prefer the excitement on the pre-side of christmas, but i'm not letting go quite yet! we had a nice, super low key holiday with just the four of us. it can get a little long and anti-climactic with no where to be, but we made the best of it. 

christmas eve morning i got some last minute groceries for our various feasts and thatcher took the kids out on an errand *cough* last minute gift shopping ;) it included a trip to mighty o's which was almost sold out of donuts at 10:00am. in the afternoon, we baked cookies for santa. i had been wanting to make peanut butter blossoms all month, and i finally got the chance! they turned out delicious and i've been eating way too many: 

when it got dark out, azalea and i drove up to the olympic manor neighborhood to check out their famous decorations. almost every house goes above and beyond with lights and decorations, it's really fun to see. lots of other people had the same idea and were strolling the sidewalks with us.

 thatcher and the kids played some minecraft while i worked on dinner and set the table. i even got a table cloth for our little table this year. i feel like a grown up!

we had an appetizery dinner: pulled pork, baked mac and cheese, bruschetta, smoked salmon, cheese and crackers, and roasted carrots. and cookies/leftover birthday cake for dessert :) 

we skyped with my extended family in minnesota, with uncle anders and aunt nith in laos, and talked to thatcher's parents on the phone. the kids did the last day of their lego advent calendar. we let the kids each open two gifts before bed: one from us and one from a grandparent. they were giddy with excitement. 

then we got our official santa plate/glass out and filled it with cookies for santa and carrots for the reindeer. and azalea wrote santa a note. it said "santa, i have tried to be good it's ok." i couldn't stop giggling. 

thatcher and i watched "christmas with a view" on netflix and then it was off to bed so santa could get to work! 

we told azalea no getting up until 7:15am. she woke up at 6:45, but i made her stay in bed for a while. the kids were giddy with excitement when they got up. this year santa brought azalea a barbie car and ashford a remote control car. they both got hats/gloves, a crystal growing kit, and various stocking stuffers. 

after the santa excitement, we made french toast, roasted potatoes, and bacon for breakfast. then we opened the rest of our gifts. 

thatcher made me this beautiful collage of family pictures from this year. i love it! 

the kids played with their new toys for a lot of the day. we watched "home alone 2" in the afternoon and thatcher baked more cookies. ha! we made lasagna for dinner. we made it last year too - it might become a new tradition! 

i hope you had a wonderful couple days with those you love! here is our 2018 holiday card: 

 the kids are off school for the next week and a half, so wish me luck filling our time ;)