Well… technically it started snowing LATE Christmas night so we didn’t get to enjoy it until the next day. The kids absolutely LOVED it. But that’s getting ahead of myself. I think I took over 200 pictures between Christmas and Christmas Eve, and that doesn’t include the snow fun we had.
Christmas Eve was so much fun for the kids. We were able to make our own big meal at home which consisted of a HUGE ham, green bean casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes, baked beans and of course TONS of Christmas goodies for dessert. We pigged out and then afterwards our tradition includes the kids getting to pick one present to open. The kids all picked out really big presents which all happened to be from my parents. Landen was about the same size as him and he insisted on carrying it around until it was time to open it.
The kids went to bed at their normal time in preparation for Santa to come. They haven’t gotten to the ages where they sneak out of their beds yet to see what Santa has brought. They slept like logs. Christian and I were able to exchange gifts and sip some Sparkling grape juice in peace. I wasn’t aware of this but Christian went all out on my gift this year… which is really rare. I couldn’t believe his story when he told me that he went to the Jewelry counter, saw what he wanted to buy and told the clerk he’d “take it” before he even knew the price. Once the clerk told him how much it would cost he didn’t change his mind and went ahead and bought it. He told me that it was only the second thing he’s ever seen for me and KNEW he had to get it. The first were my wedding rings. Even writing this makes me get a little choked up as to how much this man loves me. He is SUCH a blessing to me. Here’s the necklace!
Ok… so that brings us to my gift which isn’t nearly as spectacular. I bought him a hat. I KNOW, I KNOW! If I had known he was going all out I would have done a little better. But Christian complains each winter how his ears get cold so I bought a hat the was lined with Sherpa and he loved it. It’s a good thing his birthday is only 10 days later where I can redeem myself a little bit.
While we all slept SANTA CAME!!! And the kids were not disappointed! I won’t post every picture I took because that would just be obscene, but here are a few of the kids faces that I absolutely adore.
Later on that day we headed over to Grandmother and Grandpa Simpson’s house where we spent the rest of the day. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. One of their favorite presents that they got was a HUGE box of Flavor Blasted Goldfish. It’s all Landen would eat for 3 days (except candy of course). I think he ate most of the box all on his own. I was able to give out my presents that I had worked so hard on… the HATS. I was even able to coral the kids together so that I could take a picture of them in their hats. Not all of the cousins could be there, but over all it was 27 hats (not including flowers) that I made in a little over a month’s time. I’m a little burned out, to say the least. And I’m so happy to announce that all of their hats FIT!! That’s really all I wanted for Christmas.
Even though I was burned out on making the hats, I found a really cute scarf pattern so I HAD to make it. I wanted to make it so I could wear it on Christmas day. It only took me a day or 2 to finish. It was really easy… except… the type of yarn it called for was a little difficult to work with because it was so loopy, but once I got used to it, it was a snap! Here’s how it turned out.
