A Merry Little Christmas...

December, you went too fast. 

It felt entirely too soon to pack up Christmas decorations today, and an entire year until the next Christmas feels too far away. 

The memories we made this week will have to hold us over...we had a very merry little Christmas. 

We started the celebrations on Monday with Grandpa. 

We thought a lot about what to get for the big Santa gift this year, a train table seemed to be a good gift that both boys would love. Another plus is that we knew what to tell my parents the boys wanted this year...all of the accessory trains and tracks. 

They went way overboard in true grandparent fashion. 

First Christmas present this year!

Love at first sight. 

Pulling them away from the trains to try to get a picture...

We also took Grandpa to the Wildlife Experience, it was a much needed opportunity to get the wiggles out. 

We spent Christmas Eve with Nana at our house. There was a lot of good food, presents, and more trains of course! 

Lasagna + a crisp salad + homemade biscuits = Yum!
(all made by Julian, so it turned out great) 

Opening one present from us on Christmas Eve, always Christmas pj's. 

We had planned to go to mass, but this little guy was exhausted and not feeling well. 

It was a nice quiet family day, with one last minute shopping trip thrown in there, which was a fun adventure for me and my mom. 

After dinner, Nana had to head back home, and the four of us settled in and soaked up the holiday spirit. Classical Christmas tunes played, Christmas books were read, and we talked about why we celebrate Jesus's birthday. 

The boys went right to bed and then it was time to play Santa. 

Well, to be honest, it was time for Julian to play Santa as he is the resident train track composition expert. I filled the stockings and took a few more Christmas bokeh pictures, knowing the lights would come down soon. 

Perfect Christmas Eve brew. 

Julian, figuring out how to get all of those tracks on the table. 

I saw a picture on Pinterest where they used forced perspective to make it look like bokeh was steaming up out of a cup. This is my attempt, fun! 

We tried out a new Pioneer Women cinnamon roll recipe this year, delicious, we left one for Santa. 

Once everything was ready for the big morning, we were off to bed. 

It felt like no time had passed and the boys were already up and raring to go. 

It took me a minute to wrap my foggy brain around it, Christmas morning was finally here. 

It took about two cups of coffee and a cinnamon roll before I caught up with their buzzing energy.

They sent me down first, to see if Santa had come. 

He found us!

Unloading the stocking...

I think Julian and I complement each other well when it comes to gift giving. I am ever the pragmatist, filling the stockings with oranges, new toothbrushes, sharpened #2 pencils, and new markers. My contribution to the wrapped gifts was clothing essentials and educational books. My gifts tend to fall more in the "need" category. Julian, on the other hand, loves to give the boys the things they want, solely because they are fun and will bring joy. 

Even I have to admit, it is more fun to watch them open the latter. 

I think the boys received a good mix from both categories this year, a few of each, and Julian and I exchanged some fun gifts as well. 

Each year we like to have one special gift, in another room, that remains a surprise until the end. This year it was a child size grand piano from Uncle Chris and Aunt Jenny. We were able to FaceTime with them for the big reveal, they always give such special gifts to the boys!

I spent a little time reading the wiki pages about each of the Thomas and Friends trains, come to find out they each have their own little personality and back story. Emily is bossy. Percy is clumsy. Hiro is a train that came all the way from Japan, he was almost demolished into scrap metal, but Thomas saved him while he waited for imported parts to arrive. The more I read the more I realized the trains are kind of like Barbie on wheels, I can get on board with that, or at least I can try! 

One of the most special gifts came from Max.

 He made the sweetest ornaments for our family at preschool. 

The ornament above, from 2011, has been a point of contention since we put the tree up. Every single day Max asks about why Eli doesn't have a stocking, why isn't he on the ornament? No amount of explaining about how Eli wasn't born yet satisfies him, in his memory there has never been a time without Eli, so he deserves his stocking. 

Julian and I smiled when we saw that he made a new ornament for us that included all four family members, so precious. 

The pictures that follow are not organic Christmas moments, but rather a gift to me from Julian. It is very rare for us to try to set up any sort of an actual photo shoot, because it is usually a miserable experience for all involved. 

Julian knows how much I love twinkly Christmas light, new jammies, and the magic of Christmas morning though, so each year we take a little bit of time to purposefully capture some pictures. 

We agree to 30 minutes, he helps with getting the boys to smile, and these are this year's results (I think we were done in under 20 this time, jumping on the bed was a good format)...

My most precious gifts. 

The rest of the day was quiet and restful, we sipped coffee and nibbled goodies. The boys only left their train table to eat a little, quickly nap, and to tinker on the piano a bit. We watched "A Christmas Story", which has always been a favorite of mine, and is so even more now that we have two boys of our own. 

We expressed gratitude for and celebrated the baby born in the manger so many years ago. 

We had a Merry Christmas and hope you did too! 

P.S. Julian got a new phone for Christmas and he put this little video together of Christmas morning. We have had a lot of fun making little videos with this new app!