So this is a full recap of our holiday season (or as much as I can remember!) up until Christmas time! We started off our holiday season before Thanksgiving with our hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. Three kids, four and under, and two parents walking through the Christmas tree fields looking for the one. Thankfully, we found it pretty quickly, chopped it down, and Chris dragged it back to the main area to be loaded onto our car. We also enjoyed some roasted marshmallows and a quick hayride in the COLD temperatures:)
On the first Monday in December, our new town here in Virginia does a "holiday stroll" in their downtown area. Chris, of course, had to work but I decided to brave the crowds with all three kids and head down there on my own because I knew this may be the one and only time that we would catch a glimpse of Santa. Was it worth it? Yes, the boys were ecstatic to see Santa rolling into town on the fire truck and it was a great way to kick off the holiday season. We also ate lots of roasted marshmallows (again!), got to explore the historic train, and even see a few friends from school. A couple hours later, I loaded three tired kids back into the car to head home to their warm beds!
Another thing that we love to do during the holiday season is enjoy some nightly walks to visit some of our neighbor's lights! We did some walks, scooter rides, and wagon rides all taking in the night time Christmas viewing!
It snowed one of the first weekends in December and we are blessed to have a great private sledding hill here in the neighborhood that no one else even took a slide on! We loaded up all three kids while enjoying having Daddy working at home (versus heading to the office on his snow day) and took the boys for a few joy rides down the hill. Aiden, of course, bravely had to go on his own over and over and over. One thing we have learned that if we ever move to a little colder (and snowier) climate we have to invest in some more snow clothes for the kids. The boys wore rain boots and were jammed in snow pants about two sizes too small!
Of course, we had to take a night to decorate the tree which is always an adventure with two boys who want to hang ALL the ornaments, including the breakable ones and Abby who was rummaging through anything she could get her hands on! We also decorated the outside of our house with lights and those tacky inflatables that our kids love so much so we do it:)
Of course we had some holiday movie nights in our cozy Christmas pajamas! Our favorite movie this year was The Polar Express.
We headed to church several times during the Advent season to help not only celebrate Santa coming but baby Jesus' birthday. This year, we were excited to adopt a little boy from the church's Angel Tree. We took a special family trip to Target where the boys had a great time picking out a little present for him.
The boys had their annual Christmas programs at school. The two year old classes had a sing-a-long for the family so the kids and I enjoyed a morning of festive songs with all the other fellow families. And Aiden's class had their holiday program where he sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Go Tell it On the Mountain". Of course, we happened to get zero pictures or videos because I left the camera in the car and Chris' phone froze right when the kids were on stage! Thankfully, we have a few videos from fellow parents in case any one wants to see a bunch of rambunctious four year olds singing!
We took a break from the holiday festivities to celebrate someone's FIFTH birthday. Yes, did you hear that??? FIVE!!!! I made my life a little simpler this year. After making cookies for both Christmas programs and birthday treats for school all in the same week, I took Aiden to the store and let him pick out cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast and bought my first-ever store bought cake! And trust me, he didn't care a bit, he was as happy as could be to celebrate his big special day.
He had a wonderful birthday celebration. We headed out to eat the night before for Mexican food and cupcakes while Daddy had a half day off. On his birthday, we had a nice day at home ending with his birthday celebration. Of course, he wished for the sweetest thing to have "Daddy at home a little more". Amen!
And someone else enjoyed a little birthday cake too!
I have found this holiday season with three little kids that we have done a lot more celebrating at home versus heading out and about to do things. I have realized that the kids are just as happy doing simple things at home as doing great "planned" things out. We did holiday crafts, made Paw Patrol ornaments, decorated gingerbread houses, listened to more Christmas music than you could imagine, enjoyed fun holiday tv shows, and throughly enjoyed the holiday season.
Of course, we couldn't end the holiday season without some holiday baking! My mom arrived on December 23rd to join us for our Christmas celebration. Chris was "on call" Christmas Eve at work and has a very limited amount of time off with his new job so we knew that we wouldn't be going anywhere. We were very thankful to have her join us for our Christmas festivities. Christmas Eve in this house is dedicated to baking SO many cookies and wrapping gifts. Our cookies for Santa were all ready by the end of the day...
And we celebrated Christmas Eve night with attending our church service, looking for lights, enjoying a laid-back dinner and getting ready for Santa, saying good-nights, and wrapping like crazy!
What a wonderful and special holiday season we had this year!
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