This Christmas I was so proud of myself. I managed to have EVERYTHING ready ahead of time and had very little to do on Christmas eve. Everything was put together, wrapped, sorted and ready to go before we went to Ed and Tanya’s on Christmas eve. I think I even got in bed by midnight which was the earliest I’ve ever gotten in bed on Christmas eve!
Here is what our living room looked like after Santa visited our home.
Maddie and Sawyer had been begging for bikes so they were thrilled to finally have their new bikes. Sawyer was riding Maddie’s old pink and purple bike and Maddie was riding a razor scooter when the kids would go out to ride. She was excited to have her very own basket attached as well! Carter got Hogwarts Legos and Harry Potter Wii game as well. Both the boys got new basketballs and soccer goals. Libby was thrilled with a new baby doll, princess tent and shopping cart.
Maddie had been begging for the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and dove right in that morning.
Sawyer trying out his new bike
.She couldn’t stop pushing her shopping cart around all day.
Maddie requested a beach cruiser from Santa and it was a little big for her but she was eager to try it out.
Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year we were pretty busy. I decided for the first time ever I would host Christmas dinner for Chris’ family at our home. Our home is only 1200 sq feet so its not an easy task to entertain guests but we somehow managed. After checking out their Santa gifts I hurried and made our favorite Aebelskivers for breakfast along with bacon and eggs. Uncle David joined us for breakfast and the kids quickly got their clothes on for church before opening the rest of their gifts. We were rushing around so much I forgot to get a picture at breakfast. Here are the kids all ready to open their gifts under the tree. We did gifts pretty simple this year. This was the first year I actually stuck to a budget and it felt so amazing! The kids didn’t seem to notice that I didn’t spend that much although I made sure I got some amazing bargains and utilized my Mystery Shops at Disneyland to get things for Libby which didn’t cost me a dime!
My Harry Potter boy with his Hogwarts t-shirt. He also was excited to get a book light so he could stay up late to read Harry Potter. (which only lasted a few nights the darn thing broke within a few days).
This year I made Chris a shadow box frame of his mementos from his marathon. It was such an amazing accomplishment in his life I wanted him to remember it forever.
After we got home from Church we quickly cleaned up the house and got dinner on so that it would be ready for the Nielsen clan. It was nice having David at our house all morning. He really helped clean up after the kids messy toys and got things ready for me.
We had Honey Baked Ham, Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans, Fruit Salad and lots of yummy desserts. We were all stuffed and happy!
Each year we usually exchange gifts with Chris’ siblings and end up spending more than we can afford. So last year after dinner we all were sitting around and someone suggested we do a White Elephant gift exchange the following year instead. So that is exactly what we did and it was a riot! We have a new tradition and the kids talk about it all the time. Here is Kelli opening the gift we contributed. It was a pocket fisherman from the 80’s. Funny part of the story is that it was a gift from Chris’ dad when we were first married. Chris has been hanging on to it for years for the perfect white elephant gift.
We had such a fun time together and putting it on all myself really wasn’t that bad. I tried to keep things simple and made sure to prepare as many things ahead of time as I could so that I could enjoy the day.
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