christmas 2017

As I mentioned when I talked about Christmas Eve, we decided to spend Christmas this year as just the three of us. I keep saying that like it's a new thing, but I feel like we've actually always been pretty particular about having a celebration just for our family, whether or not it's happened on the actual holiday. Something about being the youngest I think -- I grew up having Christmas with my family at my house. We didn't travel for Christmas, and most of the time, no one traveled to us either. I feel such joy when I think of my childhood Christmases, and I remember that it was a sad transition when my siblings started leaving home, getting married, and spending Christmases elsewhere. Anyway, that was kind of a tangent, but the reason I want to start Christmases with just our family NOW is because I want all of our kids to have the homey magic of Christmas. If that makes any sense at all haha :)

i accidentally figured out how to take this awesome pic! 

So Christmas morning started out like any other December morning -- with an early-waking girl and a nice morning cuddle by the Christmas tree while she drank her bottle. I loved that during the whole month, and I loved it Christmas morning :) Once she finished her milk, I let her take a minute to explore all the presents under the tree (since they hadn't been there the day before). Then we woke Russ up so that we could begin Christmas!

At first, Ada didn't really know what to do, so we had to encourage her to rip off the wrapping paper to reveal her presents. But once she figured things out, she loved it! True to toddler style, I think she liked the paper-ripping more than the actual gifts :)

We got her a bunch of small gifts (and for such good deals), and we actually ended up returning a few items because we realized she got more than she could enjoy! So we spent about $20 total I think, plus she got gifts from grandparents and cousins :)

first nativity and blanket from granny b & papa t, bath ducks and frogs & headband from
shayne & steph's family, and the rest from us. we returned the bath mat and the bath color drops.

I gave Russ a gift that I'm really excited about! I gave him the gift of a book club with me -- 12 books, each with a monthly date to discuss the book together. I'm not a fiction fan, so I opted for all personal growth books. I thrive on that sort of thing, and I would say Russ also prefers non-fiction. Also, anyone who knows both Russ and me knows that our interests are suuuuper opposite. Pretty much anything one of us loves to talk about or do, the other has zero interest in. EXCEPT when it comes to ideas. We love discussing ideas about marriage, parenting, growth, etc., so this will give us at least one day each month to have a really good discussion together :) I also made a card to introduce the gift.

russ has learned to never trust a box

Russ got both of my big presents prior to Christmas -- an instant pot on Black Friday and one month's membership to the Be Bold community. It's part of this podcast I love to listen to (Bold New Mom), so I wanted to try out the membership, just for a month :) So on Christmas morning, the only thing I opened was my stocking, which I had also filled. Haha but it was fine, I liked just being with my family and seeing all their joy :)

A bit after opening presents, we ate the monkey bread that I had put in the crockpot, and it was just a great morning. Ada was happy all morning because she was fully entertained! Haha :) Russ said all day how great Christmas was, so I was glad :)

I had planned to have a fancy dinner on Christmas night, but we decided to keep things simple and have McDonald's instead. It worked out great! Haha and that might become our tradition instead of the fancy dinner I envisioned 😂

All in all, I feel like we did a lot better with Christmas this year. We were intentional about making several things happen, and I enjoyed the season because we filled it with lots of fun, but not too much :)