Our First Christmas As a Family of Four
Happy Holidays Everyone!In the weeks before Christmas, here on the east coast, we had a ton of snow. It just kept coming and coming. Aubrey had been waiting all year for Christmas like most three-year-olds do. All year, we had explained that Christmas will come when all the leaves fall from the trees and snow starts. So with the snow brought hopes of Santa and the holiday season. But, as we got closer and closer to Christmas Eve the temperatures rose and the snow started to melt away.
On Christmas, it is tradition to spend the night at my Parents house. Mostly, because we always lived far enough away. But with my sister and I each having our own family and Rob and I living so close, we changed our traditions. On Christmas eve, we headed for dinner to my parents and enjoyed knowing we would go home and get to become the Santa for the first time. Once home, we tucked the kids into bed and got to work. We don't want our kids raised to think Christmas is all about gifts, so they each got one present from Santa and one from us, plus their stocking. We had everything done and were curled up in bed, excited to see Aubrey's face by 11 pm. WINNING!
Aubrey woke us up full of excitement at 6 am and we were headed downstairs by 6:30 am. it was all over by 7 am. We didn't have to be at my parents until brunch so we sat back and truly enjoyed Christmas morning as a family of 4. Once they are at the age that they are easy to travel with, we want to forgo presents. Instead, each Christmas, Santa will bring them a box of goodies. Those goodies will tell a story of things they will need to travel to a certain place. They will be hints on a location. The real gift will be a family vacation the following spring somewhere in the world. Memories and the love of travel is so much more important than things.
Once we arrived at my parents, we had our traditional English breakfast that my grandad Joe used to cook when he lived close. Accompanied by the yearly Mimosa and coffee with Baileys. This year Rob and I made Paleo Irish Cream and it was Delish (check back Saturday for the recipe).
We decided as a family to do something fun this year, so we ordered these awesome ugly Christmas sweaters from Sears. It was a ton of fun and we think this will also become a new tradition. Though, my dad keeps their house so darn hot, that next year might have to be t-shirts.In other big news, Poppy started solids. She has been super sick lately so we are taking a break until she is better, but she did amazing with them.
I hope your holiday season was just as exciting and magical as ours and I truly wish you and amazing New Years!
What We Wore: