Christmas Eve-ing

Despite a few glitches in our vacation time (post about that to come later) I look back on the few days we celebrated Christmas just the four of us and I can't help but smile. Christmas Eve day was filled with last minute present shopping, LOTS of baking and an amazing little outing to watch the sunset at Wind 'N Sea beach. It actually couldn't have been more perfect.

That morning, as I attempted my hand at baking rolls and failing miserably (bread is definitely NOT my thing) Tyler decided to don one of my aprons and plant himself in the kitchen baking away! He made two kinds of cookies and a complicated but delicious Finnish bread called Pulla. I had never had if before and was pleasantly surprised not only by Tyler's mad baking skills but by how delicious it was! He ended up with enough dough to make 3 huge loaves and took some with us to Cory's house on Christmas Day.

 

Tyler also made gingerbread cookies and peanut butter blossoms. Like I said, he did a LOT of baking!! The kids were having kind of a rough day and found that Buddy (our Elf on the Shelf) had left them a message when no one was looking that said Santa was going to just fly right over our house without stopping if they didn't shape up. The note seriously worked and they were SO much nicer the rest of the day!

Later in the day we all drew names out of a hat and got $5 each to spend on the person we chose. Max chose me and got me another oven mitt. Lia had Max and got him some lightning McQueen stuff. I had Tyler and got him some random stuff and Tyler had Lia (I'm forgetting what we all ended up getting each other). It was a fun little tradition! Max and Lia also got some gift cards from a friend of ours to Toys R Us and since they had already gotten some from family members for themselves, we convinced them to use them to buy presents for each other and they loved it!

We then headed out to my favorite beach Wind 'N Sea, to explore the caves and tide pools and watch the sunset. The photos will show you how absolutely gorgeous it was. Perfection. Truly. The kids had a blast running through the sand and finding crabs and shells. It felt like we hadn't been to the beach in forever and it was extra special to be there on Christmas Eve, just the four of us, watching the sun set and enjoying every second being together.

 

 

 

 

 

When we got home we found that the Elves had left new Christmas jammies (another tradition) on our doorstep for them to wear to bed. We showered the kids and ate our dinner (crab cakes and spaghetti with a tomato tuna sauce) and then read the story of Christ's birth from the bible. It was so nice and peaceful. We talked with the kids about why we truly celebrate this night, that it's not about presents and toys and treats. Max actually seemed to kind of get it. Lia not so much, I mean, she is only 3.

Christmas Eve just felt so nice this year. After the kids went to bed Tyler and I put all the presents under the tree. Luckily we had been on top of the wrapping so we weren't up past midnight trying to get it all done! Can you believe all the presents?? Those were ALL for the kids. They have incredibly generous and kind grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. It's no surprise that being in school is tough. And every year around July or August I start to stress about how we'll buy the kids Christmas presents that year. I want their little hearts to have everything they desire and I stress and stress about it. Obviously the stress is unnecessary! Even without Santa's presents and our presents our floor would be filled with lots! Christmas is just so much better with kids around!

 

(P.S. I realize my photography skills this holiday were SERIOUSLY lacking!! Mostly we used our cheapy point and shoot, hence the extra grainy images. I was just totally burned out and had zero desire to pick up the Canon! Oh well... lesson learned!)