A few years ago the kids were so little that we never bothered to have a private family Christmas. It probably seemed absurd to others, but we already had a lot going on adding another Christmas seemed unnecessary (after all, they wouldn't even remember it:). However, this is our 3rd year doing our own Christmas and it is such a treasured time. I really do believe that the kids are at a perfect Christmas age. It is such a blessing to experience all the amazement and excitement through them.
We followed tradition and had a pizza party...we are celebrating a birthday!
Evie's first Christmas (had a "blow-out" and is in her jammies!)
Matt and I like to keep it simple with gifts. This year, everyone received some shoes, and Nathan also got a Star Wars Legos (his current obsession) t-shirt.
Everyone helped each other open their gift...Nathan was especially willing to lend a hand.
Evelyn had no idea what was going on but loved the paper and boxes...and had a great time!
Most of their gifts that night were from Grammy. We even got to Skype with her so she could watch them open them up. From her, they all received some clothes, Nathan got a big Star Wars Lego set and the girls (minus Evelyn) got Lalaloopsy Dolls. They of course loved everything!
Oh yeah...I almost forgot that we also got the kids a map (in photo below amongst the rubbage). The kids were excited about it, even if Matt's co-workers told Matt he was lame for buying his kids a map for Christmas (it apparently is not the latest and greatest:)
Ella opening a gift from Grammy.
Following gift opening, Matt surprised me with a stainless-steel cookware set. It definitely was a huge surprise, and I love it...thanks babe!
Then we had one more surprise for the kids. We told them to get ready for bed, then once their pj's were on, we gave them each a ticket and told them they were riding the "Minivan Express". It was totally a Pinterest idea I found, but it worked well. Upon entering the Minivan Express, Matt (wearing a conductor hat of course) took their tickets and handed them some popcorn. We then drove around Sioux Falls, mainly the Falls Park area, and took in the Christmas lights.
As we got into the van I realized that we were taking the kids out at bed time and this had the potential to go very badly....but surprisingly everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and Evelyn even fell quietly asleep. It may become a new tradition.
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