two days later and i’m still riding the christmas hangover {minus the alcohol…} pretty hard! i say it every year but it just keeps getting better and better…the magic of christmas through those babies eyes is simply that, magical. the girls truly understood christmas and ‘santa’ this year and hearing those little footsteps through the hall christmas morning paired with the squealing ‘santa caaaaaame!!! it’s magical!!!’ was priceless.

we really have two ‘christmases’ back to back because with both zach and my families close in proximity {and loving their own traditions}, it’s hard to cram it all into one day, especially with naps, while actually getting to enjoy the true meaning of the season and family. i never want to feel rushed on christmas morning/day and want to give the kids the chance to play so we rotate each year by spending christmas eve day with one side, christmas morning at our own house and christmas day with the other side..

christmas eve

this was the year for christmas eve to be spent with zach’s side of the family so before lunch time we packed up the crew and headed over for a full day! mammaw explains that santa knew we weren’t going to be over on christmas day, so he makes a special stop over at their house so we could celebrate christmas at their house. we let the kids open their gifts from the grandparents, aunts + uncles before sitting down for a yummy brunch.

this seemed to be the year for miller because all the ‘boy toys’ came out and he was in HEAVEN. seeing his little face when he opened his train set with somebattery operated t

the rest of the day was spent hanging with the cousins, aunts, uncles + grandparents, filling our bellies, playing with new toys {and some oldies but goodies}… the cousins are all such buddies and play so well together making for a fun day of laughter.

we headed out after some late snacks to get dressed for christmas service and rolled the dice on how the kids would do behave so close to bed time without naps. mammaw plays the bells + sings so we really wanted to attempt to bring the circus. with enough snacks to feed an army + only a few mishaps during prayer/hymns we managed without too many interruptions and the girls LOVED the candle lighting to ‘daddy’s jam’, silent night…although lila was belting rudolf the whole time.

we hurried home to set out the christmas cookies + milk and of course carrots for the reindeer, get in our christmas jams and get tucked in.
zach and i were blessed with the kids having a whole day/night with their aunt ebby + uncle bunny on saturday/sunday so we had built and wrapped all the toys making for the easiest, most stress-free christmas eve night {contrary to previous years of being up until 3am…}. we brought up all the presents {the tree remains bare in our house until christmas morning} and filled the stockings then i prepped all the food for the next day and called it a night around midnight. major mama win!

christmas day

i woke up a few hours before the kids did thanks to the 2nd trimester insomnia and lit the tree + candles and spent some time with jesus while enjoying a hot cup of coffee. the oven was pre-heated, grapefruit were cut and i anxiously awaited the girls {and zach’s} awakening!

around 745 i heard the door creak followed by pitter patter + screeches down the hall that SANTA CAAAAME!!!!! i met them in the hall before they could get to the tree and scurried them back into their room to see their excitement. zach met us in the girls room while they opened their stockings {santa leaves them on the beds!} and we checked out their new ‘belle + beast’  dollhouse for their room.

after the stockings were opened, we headed out to see if santa left a note {complete with ornaments for each kid}… daddy was on it since mama forgot and the girls were enamored with it all.

then we tore into the presents and our little man finally woke up to join in the fun.
a workbench + train table stole the show which kept mills entertained while the girls opened up all the presents… his face with all the buttons and things that ‘go’ made my entire day.

my dad + stepmom {grandpa + grandma} joined us for the remainder of christmas morning and the kids had such a good time playing with all of their fun new toys.

we took a break somewhere in there to dive into the egg casserole, grapefruits + fresh squeezed orange juice.. fill those bellies.

and for the sake of getting one family picture for christmas with my dad there {he’s one of the photographers of the fam!}, i dressed the crew before heading over to my sisters for the rest of the day.
seriously how cute are the girls jumpers?! and miller will forever wear a bowtie…you’re welcome.

immediately after getting to my sisters {who hosts the entire fam + both of our sets of parents}, we changed back into jams, got a fancy coffee and settled in for another full afternoon and evening playing with cousins, aunts/uncles + grandparents.

we ended up putting the kids down there so we could play some games {codenames has been a favorite lately!} and we all laughed till our bellies hurt…
it truly was the best two days.

the aftermath has been a whole lot of playing, jammies and slowing down.
i’m still working on cleaning up the tornado of christmas and i’m okay with it hanging for just a few days longer. we shoved the kids all outside yesterday after bundling them up like ralfie and laughed so hard our faces hurt after watching their ‘creativity’….sleds down the slide, snow angels, miller tackling the slide solo {and biting it}, and playing on the swings. it’s what the day after christmas is made for!

the most magical christmas yet…and to think we’ll have another little squish to add to the chaos next year!

i hope you had such a beautiful holiday and are taking some much needed rest + family time this week!