christmas 2016
It's interesting how the older I get, the less exciting Christmas becomes. I'm sure it will get more exciting when we have more (and older) kids, but I guess I've just done a bad job of finding the Christmas magic the last several years -- both the Santa magic and the Christ magic.
For one thing, Russ and I are bad at planning ahead, and while we have given each other some great gifts in the past, we haven't done well with it in recent years because we're bad at taking the time to think about gifts in advance. Christmas obviously isn't all about the gifts, but it's nice to know that someone thought about you and what you might enjoy, and we haven't been very good at doing that. This year, we got online and talked about the things we wanted/needed, and we just ordered all that stuff at once . . . that means we didn't spend any time actually thinking about each other. Another thing is that we just get busy or lazy and we don't plan time for the fun Christmasy things like looking at lights, playing in the snow, or Christmas baking.
As far as the magic of Christ goes, I just haven't put in enough effort to think about Him and what He would want from me in the Christmas season (and always). I definitely want to be more purposeful about turning to Him always, but especially at Christmastime next year.
All that being said, here's how our non-magical Christmas went down this year:
On Christmas Eve, Russ and I watched ABC Christmas movies on Netflix all day. They can be cheesy, but they're also really fun :) I had just started working with a sleep expert, so I was being obsessive about watching Ada sleep or wake up or get herself back to sleep (on the video monitor). That's a big part of why we didn't do anything more exciting this Christmas season. Then we ate McDonalds for our Christmas Eve dinner because we're classy (and poor planners). On Christmas morning, we opened the few presents under the tree without Ada because she was already down for a nap and she obviously can't open presents yet. Like I said, super magical.
That night we went to Brandon and Amy's house for dinner. My parents were there as well. We enjoyed chatting around Amy's beautifully decorated dinner table, and then after the kids went to bed, we played some games (Anomia and Cover Your Assets).
The next morning we all went to my parents' house for our Petersen family Christmas celebration. We had quiche and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we opened a couple presents each.
Ada was present for this celebration (at least part of it), and she even helped me open one of her presents! 😉
But she really didn't stay awake long and it was definitely evident when she was ready for a nap!
The kids loved holding her and being around her, though, which was really sweet :)
Every year I think it will be the year when we "do Christmas right" . . . where we're not in a hurry and we do all the fun Christmasy things and we really consider each other and others, and where we find ways to focus on Christ. Well. This was not the year, but I told Russ I want us to have a goal to do Christmas right this next year. We'll see how it goes!
As for this year, sorry it was nothing special for you, Miss Ada! Luckily you won't remember, and we'll try to do better in future years :)
For one thing, Russ and I are bad at planning ahead, and while we have given each other some great gifts in the past, we haven't done well with it in recent years because we're bad at taking the time to think about gifts in advance. Christmas obviously isn't all about the gifts, but it's nice to know that someone thought about you and what you might enjoy, and we haven't been very good at doing that. This year, we got online and talked about the things we wanted/needed, and we just ordered all that stuff at once . . . that means we didn't spend any time actually thinking about each other. Another thing is that we just get busy or lazy and we don't plan time for the fun Christmasy things like looking at lights, playing in the snow, or Christmas baking.
As far as the magic of Christ goes, I just haven't put in enough effort to think about Him and what He would want from me in the Christmas season (and always). I definitely want to be more purposeful about turning to Him always, but especially at Christmastime next year.
All that being said, here's how our non-magical Christmas went down this year:
On Christmas Eve, Russ and I watched ABC Christmas movies on Netflix all day. They can be cheesy, but they're also really fun :) I had just started working with a sleep expert, so I was being obsessive about watching Ada sleep or wake up or get herself back to sleep (on the video monitor). That's a big part of why we didn't do anything more exciting this Christmas season. Then we ate McDonalds for our Christmas Eve dinner because we're classy (and poor planners). On Christmas morning, we opened the few presents under the tree without Ada because she was already down for a nap and she obviously can't open presents yet. Like I said, super magical.
That night we went to Brandon and Amy's house for dinner. My parents were there as well. We enjoyed chatting around Amy's beautifully decorated dinner table, and then after the kids went to bed, we played some games (Anomia and Cover Your Assets).
The next morning we all went to my parents' house for our Petersen family Christmas celebration. We had quiche and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we opened a couple presents each.
Ada was present for this celebration (at least part of it), and she even helped me open one of her presents! 😉
But she really didn't stay awake long and it was definitely evident when she was ready for a nap!
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| i love this picture because haddie is mirroring ada . . . she saw that ada was sad and she couldn't help but reflect that sadness! |
The kids loved holding her and being around her, though, which was really sweet :)
Ada also had her very first ponytail!
 |
| goodness, she is just too cute |
Every year I think it will be the year when we "do Christmas right" . . . where we're not in a hurry and we do all the fun Christmasy things and we really consider each other and others, and where we find ways to focus on Christ. Well. This was not the year, but I told Russ I want us to have a goal to do Christmas right this next year. We'll see how it goes!
As for this year, sorry it was nothing special for you, Miss Ada! Luckily you won't remember, and we'll try to do better in future years :)
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