Our Christmas Overview | 2020 Edition

Well, Christmas has come & gone. It seemed so far away & then suddenly, it was here! Actually, I felt like Christmas has been sneaking up on me since mid-November. I knew that December was going to fly by & it surely did. In fact, every time I thought of how many days we had left to go until Christmas, I literally felt like I was trying to hold handfuls of sand & time was just slipping away thru my fingers.

I love the build-up to Christmas morning. The cookie-baking, the Christmas lights, the music, the snow, that atmosphere of great anticipation – I love it all. I’ve always loved it all, but having kids makes that joy so much greater! I just love seeing them so giddy & excited for Christmas too!

This year – we did things a bit differently. Because we planned to be with family on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day (December 24 & 25), we decided to have our Christmas early. After all, the date is truly just a number on the calendar & the kids are still too young to understand that we weren’t opening gifts on “technically” the correct day. Derrick had some vacation time left that he used & so we had our “Christmas Eve” & Christmas Day a few days before the rest of the world.

And it was wonderful. We were able to really relax & have fun – we opened our gifts to one another & then had no where to pack up & go – no parties to head out to – no pressing places we needed to be! It was delightful to not have to pack up the kids, and a handful of their new favorite toys, to head off to the next “thing” – but to simply sit & relax & enjoy. (Maybe we’ll do it this way every year?)

On Christmas Eve, we always dress the kids up in their Christmas pajamas & I take pictures of them by the tree. They were especially wound up & excited this year!

Then it was on to Christmas morning! Braelynn was the first one up (as usual), and she waited very patiently, snuggling with Mommy & Daddy in bed until her brother woke up so we could all go downstairs together.

(Braelynn’s face in the background of this photo!)

Everyone got lots of gifts, but the HIGHLIGHTS this year was that we got (almost) the whole line-up of Toy Story toys for Braelynn & Leander: Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Bo Peep, Forkie, Rex, Slinkie, Duckie & Bunny. You have no idea how hard it was to hide these toys from the kids until Christmas! They have been so obsessed with Toy Story the last few months – it was killing me to have these special toys stowed away & not give them until Christmas. The wait was TOTALLY worth it though!

If this face doesn’t say it all, I’m not sure what does.

As a special ending to our “Christmas Day” – we took the kids to the Pittsburgh Zoo for their drive-thru light display! It was beautiful & such a special way to end our day.