Saturday, February 8, 2014

Christmas: 2013

Finally, I am getting around to sharing our Christmas pictures!

This holiday season was so wonderful but seriously FLEW by. It more than likely had to do with the fact that Thanksgiving and Christmas were closer in actual days than they had been in the past couple of years. Regardless, I still feel like the house should be decorated with boughs of holly... and it's nearly the middle of February already, geesh! Actually, we still have a few strings of white Christmas lights strung about the house now that I think about it... & they might actually just stay put because they are beautiful and they make me happy; moving on:

I love everything Christmas. The lights, the smells, the sounds, the food, the family-time, EVERYTHING. We were extra-specially lucky this year because it was our year to have Peyton for Christmas night into Christmas morning AND it was our first Christmas in our new home together as a family.

So, first, let me show you just a few random photos from December leading up to the big day:

^^Peyton's ornament for 2013 that she got from Hersheypark. It 100% matched the carrousel horse that she rode on when we did the Christmas in Hershey thing, so it could not have been more perfect.^^
The week before Christmas, Jenna came over to have a little craft night with us! We cut out tons of paper snowflakes and glitter-fied them 'til Peyton's heart was content.
While we had all of the craft supplies out, I took the opportunity to put together Peyton's gifts for her preschool teachers:
I thought they turned out absolutely perfect! They were just 2 apple candles in mason jars that were on clearance {hey, Momma's gotta save money where she can!} from Pier 1 Imports with a handmade little note and some ribbon and a bow.

Pretty soon, it was Christmas Eve!

That morning, Nick and I basically just lounged around the house because Peyton had spent the night with the other side of her family {since we got to have her for Christmas morning}. He slept on the couch with the animals and I prepped ingredients for the Eggnog Cinnamon Roll dough that Peyton and I were going to work on once she got home.
After we prepped the dough, we were able to relax for a few minutes before heading off to the annual Christmas Eve party at my cousin's {other} grandparent's home. We snapped a quick pic on the way out the door because it was SNOWING! I was like a little kid. I can't remember the last time we had snow on the day before Christmas! We even had a few flurries the day of, so exciting!
There weren't many pictures taken at said party, aside from this adorable shot of Peyton snuggling her "cousin" Noah. I say "cousin" because he's technically my cousins' cousins' son, and I basically consider my cousins' cousin my cousin and it can just get really confusing sometimes... So, cousin Noah it is, haha.
We came home and Peyton found new Christmas jammies and a snowman ornament on her bed!
While growing up, my mother always had Christmas pajamas and something "snow" related on our beds for Christmas Eve night so that we would be decked out on Christmas morning and so that we had our "Christmas Snow" no matter what the weather was like. I decided to carry on that particular holiday tradition, and I am so glad that I did. :)
Once she zipped up her jammies, we decided that it was time to get ready for Santa!

First up, we went out to the front yard to spread around the Reindeer Food she had made at preschool.
^^an action shot! haha^^
Next up: hanging Santa's magical key to our home on the front door {since we do not have a chimney for him to climb down}.
That was shortly followed by writing a note to Santa.
With the note complete, we were able to set up the little station in the foyer for the big man. There were homemade chocolate chip cookies, a half eggnog/half mix cocktail {since drinking a whole glass of just eggnog can be a little nauseating}, 9 carrot bits - 1 for each reindeer, and the note/drawings Peyton made.

Shortly after setting all of that up, Peyton finally decided she was ready to pass out for the evening. That meant that it was time for Momma to finish up the Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls so all we would have to do Christmas morning would be to take them out of the fridge and pop them in the oven! Unfortunately, that also meant that Momma was up super late.
The one positive thing about that? Momma also got to snap a quick picture of the goodies that Santa had dropped off! ;)
He also chugged all of his drink, munched on almost all of the cookies, and the reindeer wreaked havoc on the carrots - they sure made quite the mess!

Finally, it was time for Momma to hit the hay. Thank goodness, too, because a certain little girl was up at the crack of dawn and ready to see what magic had happened overnight!

^^on her way to see what was in her stocking.^^
Posing with all of her presents. She could hardly contain the excitement that was bubbling over from seeing the "big, fluffy horse" that she had asked Santa for just weeks prior.
She had us read Santa's note and then noticed the trail of carrot pieces from the table to the front door and wanted to go see if the reindeer had also eaten up the food she put outside for them.
^^do you spy all of the orange in the grass?^^
Luckily, GiGi and Auntie Nenna showed up just in time to watch Peyton open up her stocking!
^^beautiful GiGi modeling her hot chocolate with marshmallows while wearing her Christmas jammies.^^
Peyton was kind enough to let Rory open her stocking before she moved on to the presents under the tree. Rory even had fun jammies for the day!

Little moments like this make all of the hullabaloo of preparing for this day well worth it.
I love her sweet little self.
She made out like a bandit, of course. What else do you expect for a loved and spoiled little lovebug?

I also ended up hosting a Christmas Day breakfast for our immediate family. It was delicious. For drinks, there was eggnog and my version of a "Christmas Cranberry & Lime Mimosa" {super tart, but super good!}.
The DELICIOUS Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls via A Beautiful Mess were a huge hit and I will, for sure, be making them again next holiday season.
Peyton had a special banana and strawberry "candycane" to munch on.
Dadda showed up and we were all ready to chow down!
^^in case you're wondering, I poured Peyton a glass of just the cranberry juice and orange juice so that it resembled everyone elses and she didn't feel left out.^^
^^Papa Ron and babygirl playing with her new set of Barbie princesses. So sweet.^^
^^Nenna and I in our matching jammies.^^

After breakfast, my family headed home and we later met them at my Grammy's house for Christmas "dinner" {another yearly tradition}. Peyton had the chance to open her presents there and soon after her other grandmother showed up to pick her up for the rest of the day/night.
^^Rory, the 40lb lapdog.^^
Luckily, before she had to leave, we snapped a picture of the three of us. :)
We hung around at Grammy's for a while after that, playing cards/games and then Papa Ron called us outside to witness this beautiful sunset.

We ended up not being able to go to Nick's parents' house for Christmas evening like we normally do, so instead we spent it with my family at my parents' home: opening up our presents from GiGi and just having a great time.


Overall, I think it was a wonderful holiday spent together with family and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I hope yours was just as lovely.

xo,
Sara

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for stopping by! :)