Our Christmas

This year we found ourselves spending Christmas in Kansas. There were many reasons for our decision. Mainly, we have never spent a Christmas in our own home with the kids. Nick and I did spend our first Christmas in Germany, but Ben wasn't born yet. We were excited to start some of our own traditions as well as keep up some favorite family traditions. Also, another main reason for staying in Kansas is that Sophie is not much of a car traveler, and Nick and I didn't think we could take 13 plus hours of trying to entertain her (she rarely sleeps in the car....). We did debate on flying into Michigan after Christmas for a week or so, but this pregnancy has not been so easy, and we were nervous about buying tickets and then not being able to travel. That being said, we really did miss our families, but we had a wonderful time here!

We attended church on Christmas Eve, figuring that it would be far easier than pulling the kids away from their presents on Christmas morning. It was a beautiful service, and everyone looked so nice, all dressed up. Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures. We came home and had a nice dinner and then put Sophie to bed. Benny stayed up a little longer to help prepare for Christmas day. We went outside and put out the Reindeer food we had made, and sprinkled our Grinch dust too. He also put out cookies for Santa and helped to hang his stocking. Finally, we read the Night Before Christmas and he went to bed. He was so excited for the next morning, but fell asleep promptly. Then Nick and I went to work. We had so much fun wrapping and putting out all the presents for the kids. Our Christmas seemed a bit overwhelming mostly because all of the kids presents were sent here, instead of being spread out over our families homes.

Christmas morning started out great with both kids sleeping in past eight, and then waking at about the same time. I was able to get the Christmas casserole in the oven, and make cinnamon rolls before all the excitement began. When Benny woke, first we did the last part of our Advent calendar-he put up Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. Then he sweetly sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus. Next it was time to open their stockings. Sophie was more interested in what Benny had in his, and didn't seem to realize that she had one of her own. Then Benny surprised me and declared this the best Christmas ever! I was so happy that he was happy, and he hadn't even seen the presents! We munched on cinnamon rolls quickly, and then headed downstairs to the basement to see the Christmas tree.

It took us about two hours to get through all the presents! Benny opened a few toys as he went along, and it always took Sophie a few minutes to open hers. I was up fetching screw drivers and batteries, and we were constantly worried that we would lose things in all of the paper. Sophie was so excited about the new bed and highchair for her Bitty Baby that she received from my family. She immediately tried to get into both, so I had to go get Bitty and show her what they were for. She was also very excited about her new fuzzy slippers. Benny was thrilled with all of his new toys and games. I can't even tell you what his favorite toy was, because he has played with them all every day since Christmas. He spent the rest of the morning putting together the Playmobile Roman set that he received from my parents. I was so proud that he knew just what to do. He was bursting with pride that he had done almost all of it himself. Both kids received big bean bags from Santa, and they were a huge hit! It was so much fun watching the joy in both of their faces. I wish everyday could be Christmas!

Later in the day, we went to our friends the Curtright's house for dinner. They were having more of a southern Louisiana style meal, so we supplied the more traditional fare. We had turkey (which the men fried outside), smoked brisket, dirty rice, cheesy potatoes, potato salad, strawberry jello salad, cranberry sauce, cheesecake and pumpkin pie. It was a delicious meal and a great time spent with dear friends.

I hope you all had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did!