Christmas 2016

How is it that holiday weekends always fly by SO fast!? Ours was so busy, but so good. While I have loved having a little baby at Christmas the past few years, this year was really the first time that Jackson got super excited about things. While the concept of 'Santa' has not fully sunk in, he totally knows who Santa is, as well as Baby Jesus, Christmas trees,  the 'candy door' on our advent house, and of course, nothing else can top his precious snowmen this year! Lincoln is at such a sweet age as well, that this Christmas really was one of the most magical years I can remember having in a long time!

On Friday, I had the day off from work and had some errands to run. I met my parents for breakfast, which is something they just love to do with the boys. Jackson can put down breakfast sausage and pancakes like no one's business, and he had a fun meal seated between his bapa and nia.

My mom and I ran some errands before town got too crazy, and were home around noon. I had the rest of the afternoon to finish making some cookies, clean up, and spend some time with my boys.

On Friday night my brother and his wife who live out of town came over to see our house for the first time, and it was fun to finally show them! I was also amazed how much cleaning I got done in the ten minutes before they arrived ;-) I really need to have people more often, just to get myself cleaning!

On Saturday, we went to town bright and early, and really my sole mission was to pick up the snowmen I purchased online and had waiting for me in the store. Holiday stuff was 60% off online at Target, which is even better than the after Christmas sales! I got a duplicate of Jackson's 'daddy snowman' and bought the smaller version as well. And in case you were wondering, yes daddy snowman has already suffered some damages. Tough love by Jackson!

Just a little family of snowmen.

Saturday afternoon we went over to Mike's parents for their Christmas. It gets louder and busier every year, but it is so much fun as more kids are added to the mix! Jackson and Lincoln both took solid naps while we were there, which was amazing! Jackson also enjoyed a cake pop and about ten too many cookies ;-)

Once we headed home, we decided to drive out to one of the local houses that has lights synced up with music, and I am so glad that we did! I had seen a video online set to 'Let It Go' and wouldn't you know, I told Mike let's stay for one more song and then we can go, and that's the one that came on! It was seriously so cool, I have never seen one of those houses live before. Jackson stared out the window in awe the entire time. I am definitely thinking it is something we will have to do every year! Once we got home, we got the boys right into bed, and exchanged gifts. Mike got me a drink making tool kit, so I went right to town making us some mojitos! We watched a Christmas episode of The Office and set out all of the gifts before calling it a night!

Christmas morning, Jackson was pretty excited to see the goodies under the tree. Of course, he was more focused on stacking the gift boxes to make a robot, haha! He was so excited about all of his gifts, but wouldn't you know, the highlight of the morning was sitting in the box filled with a bunch of plastic balls ;-) I am so in love with how easily (and cheap!) it is to entertain kids! The rest of the morning, we lounged around, enjoyed some egg bake, and tried not to get too overwhelmed by the mountains of toys everywhere ;-)

I decided to use our ten year old camera on Christmas. I cannot believe how washed out the photos are with it! I think a Canon Rebel may be on next year's Christmas list!

After naps, we headed over to my parents for my family's Christmas. I honestly think that Christmas this year was one of the best in a long time. Everyone had fun, there were lots of laughs and great conversations, and my boys had so much fun.

We enjoyed our annual seafood dinner, including shrimp, lobster tails, and crab legs! YUM! We topped off the meal with my moms ice cream cake, which is seriously ten times better than anything I have ever had from the store. Everyone request she make one when their birthday rolls around, because it is so delicious!

We finished off the night with a fun game where we had to open a present wearing oven mitts. We added to the fun by competing in pairs, and it was pretty darn loud and high energy by the end! Mike and I won, and have a giant tub of jelly beans to prove it :-) We got the boys packed up and headed home, before the roads got too slick. Because oh yeah, we live in Minnesota and are covered in snow but it downpoured rain all day long. Probably the craziest winter weather I have seen!

New PJs for me and the most perfect tee that I got Mike for Christmas.

On Monday, both Mike and I had the day off, so we all stayed in comfy clothes all day, I didn't fold or put away a single load of laundry, and there were about a million toys scattered in every corner of our house. It was perfect :-)

Looking fresh after afternoon nap!

Those little toes hanging off the chair during lunch just killed me. Please stay little forever.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families with lots of food, laughs, and love!

Linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls for Tuesday Talk!