Merry Christmas 2021

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! After being in a hotel for 10 days for the plumbing project, it was nice to be back in our home for a few days, especially for Christmas. Since we took a trip before and after Christmas, I figured I’d save those blogs for next and share our Christmas with you first. Our month has been thrown off a bit, but we enjoyed a few days before Christmas enjoying time at home and doing our family traditions and reading about the birth of Jesus. On Christmas Eve, one of our traditions is to make and decorate cookies. The kids had lots of fun decorating with frosting, icing, and sprinkles.

Lots of pretty sugar-filled cookies.

We also made brownies and lemon bars, then made several plates of goodies to deliver to friends around the neighborhood.

Can you see the specks in the snow? That’s the boys going to several buildings to deliver treats to their friends and wish them a Merry Christmas. The snow is so pretty and we get a lot of it during the winter. We got the first snow while we were away the previous week, and we had a couple small sprinklings afterward, keeping fresh snow on the ground. The kids were excited for the snow during Christmas. 

They came home with several friends they delivered to. We are thankful that have made a sweet group of friends.

That afternoon, the kids got dressed up and we took pictures in front of the tree. 

For Christmas Eve dinner, we always have ham. This year it was more Thanksgiving-inspired with sweet mashed potatoes, brown-sugar carrots, rolls, stir fry peppers and snap peas, and cranberry sauce.

Everyone had full bellies, and ready to watch Christmas Eve service on TV.

Our other Christmas Eve tradition is to gift everyone new pajamas. This year we all received slippers too.

Everyone in their new PJs. 

Kids are asleep, presents are out, Merry Christmas Eve!

Looks like Santa came! The boys don’t believe in Santa, but Eliza is all-in, so the boys play along.

Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast - sausage egg casserole, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and fruit. Afterwards, we do our last Christmas reading, then open presents. 

The kids were excited to give their siblings gifts. The boys got Eliza a new stroller to walk her babies.

Eliza and Caleb gave Benjamin a basketball and some nerf bullets. Benjamin and Eliza gave Caleb a gift card to Arkadaş, his favorite bookstore.

Benjamin loves art and got a new art kit.

The kids received new sleeping bags and money from family members.

We got a couple board games to play as a family and the boys got foldable soccer goals for outside.

They got new blankets and some clothes too.

Hickory Farms sausage for daddy.

And a few stocking stuffers to complete the morning.

The boys received smart watches that track their steps. They have wanted these for a while and were very excited to receive them. This was just playing outside for half a day! 

Eliza received a new tea set and camping set. She likes pretend play and wanted to have a tea party with her baby doll. She sets everything up so carefully, it’s really cute to watch her play and play with her.

Caleb loves legos and he built both of Benjamin’s sets and one of his sets, before the day was over.

It was a nice low-key Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus and spending time together as a family.