I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas was low-key and simple, which was fine by us. One of the biggest gifts of moving here to PA has been learning to appreciate simplicity in our everyday lives -- this is not a natural strong suit of mine as I've always been more of a busy bee. We do a good amount of travel and a lot of little day trips and adventures, but we spend the majority of our time just hanging around the apartment together. Some of my favorite memories from the past year and a half have come from the weeknights at home watching the kids play, be silly, and dance around the living room. In Arizona, I had a long commute and felt like I was always up against the clock or on my way somewhere. I work from home here, the daycare is 2 minutes away, and we hardly ever have official plans (probably shouldn't brag about that! haha) so life is a lot more laid-back. So, it was only fitting that Christmas was laid-back too.
That being said, I still get sad and really miss family, especially during holidays and big occasions. When George was in AZ two weekends ago for his cousin's wedding, I was really wishing we all had gone. I have some serious FOMO, guys! (Fear of missing out)
Hopefully all of you reading this got our Christmas card. If not, here it is. Emily took these photos for us when she was here in November. Getting all four of us to look at the camera at the same time is impossible, so I just embraced it this year!
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is picking out our tree. I take it pretty seriously and want the perfect tree. This year, I'm please to report that we nailed it! It was small (about 5 1/2 feet), but the perfect shape.
Madeline was in charge of putting the star on top. Thank you Dollar Tree for the $1 star! :)
I was really hoping for a White Christmas (just like the ones I used to know), but no such luck. Earlier this month, we got a couple of light snowfalls, but nothing major yet. There's more in the forecast for this weekend and next week.
Another favorite tradition is making Christmas cookies. This was our first year doing it with both kids and Luke jumped right in. He kept saying, "I roll it." He looked so official in his Christmas apron. I could tell that he felt like such a big boy participating in this tradition. Madeline is very into the whole process. She likes picking out the different shapes and cutting them herself. Her most favorite part of the process though is the sprinkles. Let me tell you, she goes to town with the sprinkles. No bit of cookie is left un-sprinkled. We went through 3 sprinkle shakers this year.
And who could forget about the Gingerbread house? This is was our Christmas Eve project. I must say that I get pretty into this myself. I kind of didn't want the kids to touch it, but I snapped out of it and let them go to town. Luke did more eating than working, but Madeline was all business and used every piece of candy.
Before heading to church on Christmas Eve, Madeline posed for a bunch of pictures all dressed up in her Christmas dress.
As you can see, Luke wasn't quite as excited about getting dressed up! :) :) :)
We finally got him cleaned up and ready to go. In case you're wondering what's up with the hat, Luke is SO into this hat lately. He hated hats 3 weeks ago, but he found this in his closet and now he wears it everyday. We just roll with it!
I made Madeline her "special" drink. Ginger ale, orange juice, and strawberries -- so fancy! Her face in this picture cracks me up!
And the big moment -- Christmas morning! It was so fun! They got so excited about every gift and wanted to play with each one as soon as they opened it.
George went over the ground rules (necessary at this stage) and passed out the gifts one at a time. It kept the chaos down and prolonged the process a bit! :)
After presents and breakfast, Madeline and George headed to the movie theater to see Star Wars. This was George's first trip to the movies since we moved to PA. If you know George, you know he loves going to the movies, so he was a happy camper. Madeline was pretty excited herself! Side note: this may sound super weird, but we actually go to the movie theater a couple of times per month, but only to buy the movie theater popcorn. We bring it home and George watches his movies here instead. It's an $8/month habit....the bucket costs $8 and then we bring it back a couple of weeks later for the free refill. George sends Madeline and I into the theater to do his dirty work. It's the same man working every Saturday afternoon when we go and I'm pretty sure he recognizes us, but he's never says a word.
Christmas ended with what I think will be a new tradition. George and I made pierogi. They were stuffed with cheese and potato and were amazing. We made them on a total whim (I had a roast that I intended to make, but saved for Tuesday instead) -- a tasty last minute decision and a winner with the kids too!
Here are a few videos from our Christmas traditions...
