How about we continue recapping Christmas in January? I’ve got a few more photo-filled posts, plus a look at how I organized and packed my Christmas decor this year. Maybe by February, I’ll be thinking more about the new year! If you missed our first Christmas Things post, you can check it out here.
I remember telling you (and Ella!), last year, that she wouldn’t ever have to have her picture made with Santa Claus again. She was feeling a little silly in last year’s picture, but my sister and I both really wanted her in the group photo for Vera’s first Christmas. Never in a million years did I expect to have another baby, but it’s clear that I spoke prematurely. We talked about it on and off all season and I was finally able to convince her to take a photo with her sisters. She skipped out on the group photo, but I will forever be grateful that she’s in the photo for Polly’s first Christmas.
We’ve been visiting this Santa at a local mall for several years and he’s just so pretty. Kamin & I both wish he wore his hat for the photos, but even that’s a reach. The staff at The Summit do such a great job styling the photo area and there are all sorts of booths and pop up shops to check out while you wait. The kids were so good and had a great time, despite our long wait. Vera was actually very interested in Santa Claus the entire time we were in line. Even as we were approaching him, she was happy and waving. Once her mama sat her in his lap, however, all bets were off! Is it terrible that I hope Polly gives us a sad face next year?!
Polly, on the other hand, didn’t even realize we had taken her out of the stroller. I sat her in Santa’s lap and she continued with her solemn look throughout our photo session. How pretty are these girls?!
Jennifer and I have decided that the only way we can manage to see each other these days is to put it on the calendar. We’re aiming for a brunch/lunch date once a month and, so far, we’re two for two! The weekend before Christmas, we met for brunch at Big Bad Breakfast and carried these two along with us. Saylor slept almost the entire time and even though Polly woke up for a few minutes, she sat happily in her car seat for the entire two hour event. Everyone outside of the restaurant was staring as we made faces and squealed at the girls to grab this picture.
The last few Christmases, we’ve attended church during the Friday night service. Our church offers something like twenty service times over a five or six day period, so you can attend whenever works best with your family celebrations. I was so excited to get a family photo while we were all dressed up — the only time that happened the entire month — but I didn’t realize my camera was on manual focus until much later. I do love this photo, even if it is painfully blurry.
This picture doesn’t have anything to do with Christmas, necessarily, but there are Christmas lights on my wall. Does that count? Polly is so sweet at night before bed and we always love laughing and playing with her for an hour before we put her down. This night, while Josh was making her laugh, I was playing around with a few camera settings in an attempt to take better photos when it’s dark outside. I am still loving my camera and now that I understand it a little better, I’m having even more fun!
I told you in the last Christmas post, that we only got our real tree two weekends before Christmas. I managed to get it in the house and decorated the very next morning, but it was another week before I managed to get a few more photos of our living area. I relocated the end table and put our tree between the couch and the front door. I’m not sure that this will be its permanent location for years to come, but I did love the view when I walked into the room. We stuck with white lights, white deco-mesh, tinsel, and sparkly ornaments for this tree. I don’t do “designer trees,” but it was pretty easy to divide our heirloom ornaments into two themes for each of our two trees.
One of my favorite memories from childhood was that my mom always cooked a snack supper on Christmas Eve. This doesn’t look like much of a spread, but for the days leading up to the holiday, we added (and demolished!) several other options. We kept them on the dining table with paper plates and napkins, so that it was easy to fix a plate at any time. This was what we had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days in a row.
I was late getting gifts wrapped this year, but since I didn’t put them under our family room tree anyway, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I loved having branches come all the way down to the floor, so we wrapped our gifts in candy colored paper and put them around the faux tree in our sun room instead.
In the past, we’ve always celebrated Christmas Eve with Josh’s parents, by eating breakfast and opening gifts at their house. We had some conflicts this year and since Josh had to work a regular schedule that day, it really worked out best for us in the end. After a big breakfast at home, I carried the girls into town for a popcorn lunch while we watched Mary Poppins Returns. It was such a great movie and we all loved it. I’ve had so many people ask how Polly did in the movies — this was actually her third movie (we saw Little Women and A Star is Born during my maternity leave) and she’s been excellent every time. I always just plan to nurse as often and as long as necessary and she inevitably falls asleep. We were worried that our daddy would have to work until five our and we would miss out on our usual Christmas Eve traditions, but he finished up just before we got back home.
Before heading out for Starbucks and Christmas lights later that night, my parents brought in gifts for the girls to open. Sophie has been begging for the game of Life and my mom found her an adorable doll-sized kitchen for her American Girl dolls. Polly got lots of soft toys and Ella just observed the fun, since my mom let her have her new coat a few weeks before Christmas.
I never got around to sending out Christmas cards this year (I am sending out birth announcements with a New Year’s message in a few more days) and I was surprised to see that I wasn’t the only one! The cards we did get were all beautiful, but there weren’t nearly as many as there usually are. I hung up a huge frame in our living room and we hung the cards from twine and clothespins so that we could enjoy them the entire season long. And maybe into January, but I’ll never tell…
Join me for our last Christmas recap tomorrow, where I’ll share all of my favorites from Christmas morning.
