I mean Hobby Lobby has already set out all their Christmas decorations and I did hear just the other day there are only 18 more Fridays until the big day, so I figure it's not too late or early to talk about Christmas...right ;)?!? For those of you who don't know, I actually print out my blogs each year so my kids will have a diary of sorts for all of our family adventures and daily life. When going through all of my albums I realized I never blogged about the big Santa day and we had too much fun this year not to share. Just a warning though, I normally break these posts up but for time sake I've combined it into one...be ware of picture overload! We spent our Christmas break at the Nana and Pops house this year in Bowie...
We kicked off the holiday celebration with the Clayton Family White Elephant Christmas Party...
Daniel's family gathered around for a scrumptious dinner...
followed by a family friendly game of stealing presents :). Of course Zoe was at the age she didn't really care about the actual present herself, she just wanted to open them all...or at least "help"!
Christmas Eve we made our traditional sugar cookies for Santa...
Nana even got Kason in the kitchen as a helper with the evening meal...
Little man also had a special treat when dad took him outside and taught him how to shoot his first gun!
Boy was this a big deal...he was beaming with pride when he was all done. I believe the gun was Daniel's first gun. I just love holidays because we have several days to spend together as family visiting while the kids play. I love the spirit of the holiday with smells of homemade food cooking, Christmas music playing softly, all the twinkly lights, the excitement of kids looking forward to Santa coming...
It's just a pretty fun time of year! On Christmas Eve, we made sure we laid out our letter to Santa..
along with our cookies and milk...
then we headed outdoors to show the reindeer the way to Nana and Pops house. This was a big deal because Kason was super worried Santa wouldn't know we weren't going to be at our own home.
Before all the kids went to bed, we had our traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas...
Then the parents got to have fun sitting all of Santa's goodies out!
Our kids only get three gifts plus a stocking from us: something they want (big Santa gift) which Kason got the Spiderman scooter he had been really hoping for.
The kids also get something they need like clothes or new shoes.
The last gift is one gift for all three and it's something we can all do as a family. This year Daniel and I decided to get them a small indoor trampoline to help them get their wiggles out on days that the weather is too extreme to head outdoors (which was a big hit!)...
I feel like a kid again on Christmas morning when I watch the way my munchkins light up...
to be honest I don't really even want any gifts, I just want the pleasure of enjoying their excitement!
I love to see Kason trying to play Santa and help pass out gifts...or at least help open the gifts :).
Getting to spend Christmas with this precious little guy...
cousin Thane was such a treat for us! We absolutely LOVED seeing these three over our break...
The Clayton Crew sure does miss our Aunt Michelle and DB not living two doors down from us. I would say over all, we had a fantastic, lazy morning together...
so much so that our littlest ones didn't make it until the end :)...
While the littlest elves slept, Kason and I made a gingerbread house together while waiting for dinner...
It is so much fun having so many traditions to fill your days around the holidays...plus it's always a bonus to keep little man busy!
Nana even had a super fun activity on Christmas evening...
a pinata!!! After seeing all these pictures, I'm already looking forward to decking the halls and smelling pie baking in the oven...
and dressing my little elves up in red and green! Oh, I can't wait!
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