At Christmas Time

Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas? I really do. Not just for the presents. I love that feeling in the air. You know the one? That just seems to calm everyone down and make everyone  in a good mood, no matter what. I love that! I wish that it was like that all the time. I really do.

At our house, we did Christmas over a couple of days. Mike and I have such wonky schedules that we wanted to be able to do everything together. And we were planning on going over to Mike’s mom’s house for Christmas day. I kind of missed opening all the presents on Christmas day. We finally decided that it was okay to stay home. I know, I said it. We are going to be staying home from now on. Both of  us work the day after Christmas anyways. It only seems fair. Not just to us, but to Olivia too. She needs to build memories from home. I think that next year, she will be even more excited for everything. I actually cant wait. She became quite the excellent paper ripper.

I was thinking about traditions in our family that I could share. We only have a couple, but I always look forward to them. At my Mom’s house, we always get an ornament at thanksgiving. She always knows the PERFECT one to give. She is just good like that. At our house, Mike and I always put our ornament in the stocking. I love getting two new ornaments every year. I think we might be able to upgrade our tree next year! Woohoo!! Another traditions that we have is pajamas on Christmas Eve. I love that! I love pajamas! Who doesn’t!? And then you also look really cute in your pajamas when people are taking pictures of you opening presents! :)  
The last thing that Mike and I do is, 3 presents. 3 presents each. Usually one from each of us, and one from us together. Mike and I decided that we didn’t want to focus on stuff. Hard to believe right? I know, I’m robbing my child of a tree FILLED with presents. But really think about it. When you were a kid, you always wanted  that ONE thing. The one thing that you would of LOVED to have. Your mom always bought you everything around that one thing. And I will admit that Olivia may hate me when she is 13 and “everyone else gets a million presents” but she will (hopefully) realize that some people don’t get anything. I think that next year, we will include service into our Christmas celebration. Helping the homeless, donating to toys for tots, or filling up a shoebox. 

Anyways, here are some fun pictures of Miss Liv :)

 

Christmas at Grandma Nancy’s

  

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! :)