Christmas Day

Christmas this year came so quickly probably mostly because of all the craziness going on in our lives. But whether we were ready or not Christmas came. Here is is all ready to go for Christmas morning.

Matt and I had decided to do a smaller Christmas I was a little worried that the girls would be disappointed that they didn't have as many gifts to open but I couldn't have been more wrong. The girls got up as normal about 8:15am and we got up and moving while the girls went to see what Santa had brought them. The girls took turns opening their presents and taking 15-30 minutes to play and check out each gift which made it way more fun and took us over an hour to get our presents open. Hallie with her princess book collection.

Reading their books

Playing with the safari potato heads

Gracie's favorite gift for sure was her little einstein dolls...she has been asking for them for months. Luckily Santa was able to find them we looked and looked and they were very difficult to find.

Hallie loved her animal cookies from Santa they are her favorite

Gracie's Frozen books set was another huge hit

Hallie said one of her favorite gifts was our family gift of the game telestrations...she loves that game

Probably Hallie's favorite gift was her karaoke player 

After we had opened and tested all of our gifts it was time for breakfast. Matt and I are still trying to decide what we want to be our traditions and when Christmas breakfast is concerned we are still testing things out. This year we did breakfast burritios and they were a huge hit

My favorite gift was all the snow. I think there is something so magical about having a white Christmas. 

After breakfast the rat race began and we had to hurry and get everything ready to head to the airport for our flight to Vegas. I wont lie I was hoping that they would cancel our flight so we could stay home in our pjs and watch the beautiful snow and enjoy building snowmen, sledding, and hot chocolate but no such luck. The roads were slick most of the way but we made it in plenty of time to get checked in and grab some lunch before catching our flight. The girls love that they each have their own bag to pack snacks and activities. They also each chose a gift to take to grandmas. I felt really bad all they wanted to do was to play with their toys and hang out but they were very cooperative to get us where we needed to be

Once we got on the flight the first discussion is always what the girls are planning on ordering as far as drinks and snacks...they think that is pretty awesome.

We were thrilled that the flight wasn't full so Matt sat on one side of the isle with Hallie and I sat on the other with Grace. While they de-iced the plane Gracie told me she was tired and wanted to lay down with her blanket shortly after that she was out before we were even off the ground! This never happens she is not a kid that sleeps many places than her bed so it was a very quiet ride to Vegas. When we got to Vegas we waited for the entire plane to get off before waking Gracie up. When I woke her up she asked if we were at grandma's. I told her no we were at the airport but would be to grandma's house shortly to while she replied, "you woke me up to early I wanted to sleep until we got to grandmas." Such a silly girl.

We picked up our rental car and headed to grandmas just in time for Christmas dinner. It was actually quite cold and while waiting for the car Hallie said, Mom I wish we were home building snowmen. We had ham, turkey, potatoes, rolls, and carrots. It was fun to have everyone together and catch up over some warm food. But the kids were only temporarily deferred because they had already seen the presents grandma had waiting for them. After they filled their bellies they opened their gifts. Hallie was thrilled with her new bride dress. My mom had made her one 2 years ago but she has since grown out of it although she still tries to put it on but I can't even zip it up anymore. She spent most of her weekend in this outfit

Gracie got a life size doll that is pretty much the same size as her. She still isn't quite sure what to think about it sometimes she likes it and sometimes she says its weird and wants nothing to do with it

Luke had a hard time wanting to let someone else open gifts but he warmed up to the girls pretty quickly. He was excited to be in a picture with Hallie in her dress

After we opened gifts it was time for some much needed down time. We were all exhausted and enjoyed just laying around hanging out

Christmas was a whirlwind but that seems to be the theme of our holiday season this year. We really enjoyed our morning at home with a slow pace and we are looking forward to having Christmas mornings and weekends at home from now on hoping it will allow us to more fully enjoy our holiday season and focus on the real reason for the season