Christmas 2015

London actually sleeps in hers in her bed at night! Such a hit with the girls. 

Given the excitement we had in Hawaii at the beginning of December, Christmas was pretty low key in comparison. My parents didn't even come out since we weren't getting together with the Moffetts on Christmas Eve. We did sneak in a nice Sunday afternoon lunch with some of the Moffetts the Sunday before Christmas.

We also were adjusting to having London on an actual school calendar this holiday season. She spent a lot of her off time up at Vicki's. We were definitely missing having her around, especially during the lead up to Christmas Eve and Christmas, but it was also nice to get some one-on-one time with Sydney.

I am also quite happy to report that since some gifts had to be mailed or delivered before Christmas that I was stress-free by then. Well, minus getting the house clean for Christmas night dinner. I even had time to help our scout elves with a little good-bye gift for the girls. On Christmas Eve morning the girls woke up to a gift from them that included Hot chocolate, Christmas mugs for all of us, a new Christmas book and movies, homemade Chex mix and handmade Christmas fleece pajama pants and sleeping shirt for the girls. They loved it!

This was a very messy undertaking. I'm still finding sprinkles on  the floor!

London came home the evening before Christmas Eve so we were able to get a good baking & cookie decorating session in Christmas Eve morning in preparation for Santa's arrival. I even let the girls go at it with the sprinkles with no direction from me. We pretty much had to shake the cookies free of many of the sprinkles, like you do with glitter, before you could easily eat a cookie. But the girls had a blast decorating and used up almost all of my supply for sprinkles, which was good as they were getting on in age. 

In the afternoon, we headed up to Vicki's to celebrate Christmas Eve with Cameron's family, and enjoyed a delicious dinner of homemade tamales. One of these days Cameron and I will find time to have Vicki show us how to make these ourselves as we love them. After dinner it was present opening time, which can get quite messy with all the kids  opening their gifts at the same time. I'm still not sure who gifted the girls what on a few items. 

Once the mess was cleaned up and gifts were loaded into the car, we headed home. I think this is the first time we have been home at a reasonable hour on Christmas Eve. I know it was the first time the girls actually set out the cookies and milk for Santa on their own. Plus, earlier in the month, our Scout Elves had the girls make "Reindeer" food out of Christmas Confetti and Oatmeal, so they had fun spreading it out front under the bright, full moon that night. It was still past their bedtime so they headed to bed pretty quickly after we got home. Maybe next ear we'll get around to reading The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. I did make sure they watched that movie earlier in the day. 

The girls gave us an early Christmas present on Christmas day by sleeping in! I think we were able to sleep until 8 AM! The girls loved the Mermaid Tails I made them for Christmas. Sydney had asked Santa for a "pink" gift for Christmas and he granted her with, not only wrapping her present in pink, but also getting her a bright pink long-sleeved shirt with striped pants inside of it. And Santa must have know about London's current fascination with the stars as he got her a book on Constellations that even glows in the dark along with glow in the dark stars to put up in her room. He also brought both girls some Mermaid Barbies. 

My Aunt sent us this dress - it was so beautiful and London wanted to wear it for days. I, on the other hand, want to save it for Sydney!

The rest of Christmas day was very low key. We were hosting Christmas dinner for Vicki and his sister and her family, which only totaled 8 people, including 3 kids. Cameron made a prime rib roast which was delicious, and we made baked potatoes, a salad, Au Jous and marinated Brussels sprouts to compliment it. 

The girls with their cousin Lillie on Christmas Eve. And yes, Sydney is wearing sneakers. I forgot to take the girls shopping for shoes! 

Overall, we had a nice holiday though it was definitely different from what we are used to and we missed seeing many of the people we usually see. But, we were rested for the big party all four of attended a week later for New Year's Eve at a friend's house.