Christmas 2015

What a wonderful Christmas it has been! To be honest I wasn't feeling too Christmas-y in myself this year, with my Granddad passing recently and just wanting to be back home in England, I wasn't truly into it this year. Of course I put on a good effort for the boys! Then miraculously over this Christmas weekend I truly enjoyed myself and took in every little moment with the boys and all of the family we have visited. Looking back we really have a very special Christmas season.

Christmas Eve, James had off of work so we spent the day relaxing around the house and baking cookies for Santa. We attended Christmas Eve service and the boys loved the lights, and music and the glow sticks; they were a hit! Chase did a fantastic job of decorating the cookies and was so excited to leave them out for the jolly red fella, and was equally eager to leave carrots for Rudolph. Chase is a huge Rudolph fan. Chase's excitement bled over into all of us, there is something so special seeing Christmas through your child's eyes.

The boys' reaction when they came downstairs and saw that Santa had been and all of the presents under the tree was everything and more I had dreamed it would be. It was priceless and I will never forget it. There is nothing that tops making your child feel so loved and special....all the feels!!! We had the best morning tearing into gifts, building toys, and sipping mimosas (the boys had just OJ ;) ). Just the 4 of us. It was lovely. While the boys took a well needed nap I got busy with Christmas dinner and Mom and Bill arrived to spend the rest of the day with us. The excitement of the day continued when the boys awoke and heard Mom Mom and Pop Berry were here, with presents of course. We ended the day with eating a yummy English Christmas dinner and watching some tv.

Boxing day, as us English call it, we spent down at Fred and Cathy's house to do Christmas with them. The boys had a blast looking at all of Mom Mom's light up toys from Disney and the Disney Christmas tree was a huge hit, especially a certain a red race car that as hanging from a branch.

We ended our Christmas celebrations by going to Dad and Jen's house for dinner today. With our busy schedules its hard for all of us to get together so we had so much fun hanging out and laughing with one another. The kids were eager to open more presents (such lucky boys)and literally ran around until they couldn't walk another step. I know I have never seen the boys as exhausted as they were today. They will sleep well tonight that's for sure.

Of course I still long to go spend time with my family in England but Christmas was more festive than I ever expected it to be, and that was my favorite gift!

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is undoubtedly my favorite season of the year. Now that we have the boys I love fitting as much Christmas-y stuff into the month as we can. I hope they grow up loving this time of year as much as I do!

Since James and I have been together we have started a few Christmas traditions of our own and incorporated ones from our childhoods; watching a Christmas movie Thanksgiving evening, Santa brunch, driving around looking at the Christmas lights, throwing our Christmas party, going to Longwood Gardens and gifting the boys a new Christmas book each week leading up to Christmas. This year we added two new activities to our busy month of December but we will absolutely we making them traditions for years to come.

Building a gingerbread house. As I was walking around the craft store I noticed these and thought Chase would love this idea, and turns out he did! We did it in stages this year. One evening we built the house and let it set and then we decorated it a few evenings later. The kit I picked up was very involved but we kept it simple this year by skipping the fondant.

Each day Chase oo's and ahh's over his house and I can't wait to see the creations that the kids come up with as they get older.

Santa Train

Everybody who knows our boys, know that trains are everything to them so when I heard about a Santa Train that runs about 15 mins from our house I knew we had to do it! It was a hit with everyone, not just the boys. It was a 2 hour train ride that included letter writing to Santa, cookies and hot cocoa, Christmas caroling and a visit from the jolly red guy himself. The train cars were beautifully decorated and were so ornately preserved. Chase was a little shy of Santa a first but warmed up and even gave him a high-five. Asher on the other hand, not so much a fan.
After this event we are all in the Christmas spirit!