Christmas Recap 2014

It's New Year's Eve, all of the holiday decorations are packed away, and I haven't even written a little snippet about our Christmas this year! The days are streaking by faster than I can even blink, which means in a minute, this gestating baby will be a month old already. Yikes!

We had a wonderfully quiet Christmas at home again this year. I think I've mentioned in past Christmas posts about my commitment to spend Christmas at my own home with my little family, which isn't always an easy (or popular) feat when you live separated from extended family. I'm not ashamed to admit it IS a little selfish of me to want to create our own traditions and memories in our own house. This year was no exception... plus, I'm a little too pregnant to travel very far!

We got up at a normal time on Christmas morning. Even though we had told Isaac in the days leading up to Christmas that he would get to open presents on Christmas morning, he still didn't really understand the whole concept. Therefore, he was not awake at 4am to open gifts. One of these days, that will be our reality, and it will be both heartwarming and exhausting! Ha! Isaac definitely showed more Christmas spirit this year than in years past (when he was 2 months and 14 months....). More than anything, he liked looking at the "Chris-sas wights." We were out nearly every night walking the neighborhood looking at the lights on the houses. He loved looking at the Christmas tree and would ask every morning to turn the lights on. Isaac could tell that this time of year had some significance and so we attempted to capitalize on that wonder by reading through some advent studies (Note to self: John Piper advent materials aren't exactly written for 2 year olds.), reading through the Christmas story several times, and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas morning. Jordan and I both agreed that Isaac would probably understand the whole Santa thing by next Christmas, so maybe we'd add that into the mix.

Isaac's Loot. Jordan and I kept to the "Want - Need - Wear - Read" mentality, so really only 3 of the presents above are from us (his "need" gift wasn't wrapped). The remaining gifts were from Grammy, Big Daddy, and Uncle Tim/Aunt Jennifer. We're not at all spoiled around here! Hahaha!

 My special boy's special moments checking out his presents. He especially loved his "bike."

He was pretty thrilled with everything and in true Isaac-whirling-dervish self, ran in excited circles, resulting in many blurry pictures. He loved tearing into his gifts. It made my momma heart smile to see my sweet baby so happy.

After eating our "traditional" Christmas morning breakfast of French Toast Casserole (Find the recipe on my Pinterest!) and sausage, we spent some time enjoying all of our new things. (Jordan got me a new vacuum cleaner and a purse!) We also watched Frozen. Strangely enough, I woke up Christmas morning with a hankering for Frozen, which in our boy-heavy house, gets very little play in comparison to Cars, Monsters Inc/University, Nemo, and Toy Story. It makes me wonder if my subconscious is trying to tell me I'm having a girl and need to know about this Frozen stuff. Haha!

Although I'd planned on cooking a large Christmas dinner for the three of us, we were invited to join another family for lunch. So after we had our own family time, we packed up some games and donned our stretchy pants and had a yummy steak lunch with some sweet friends. Isaac and I left after lunch to both get in some nap time, but when we were up and moving again, we joined back up with Jordan, who was still playing games with our friends. They fed us dinner as well and we watched a movie together while Isaac destroyed their house. It was relaxing and fun and full of laughter.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy new year!