At 7AM exactly, upstairs sounded like a stampede as Greta and Holly came rushing downstairs! Maeve somehow stayed asleep through all of that, but woke up a little later and came downstairs upset because no one was upstairs, but her tune changed almost immediately when she remembered it was Christmas! Our Christmas morning looks like this: we open up stockings first, all taking turns. Then we eat breakfast once it's ready. And then I like to take our time opening up gifts. There's no rush! I really enjoyed the pace of this year's Christmas morning and I was so grateful that I didn't feel overwhelmed by stuff at the end of it. We spent the remainder of the day playing together, video chatting with family and we watched a movie. It was so ideal!

And here's Maeve playing with her gift from Conor and I the day after Christmas.

I love Christmas with kids! They're so excited! This Christmas, I explained to Maeve what all was going to happen because I wasn't totally sure she understood Christmas and Santa. I made a big fancy, delicious dinner and we ate Gingerbread Chocolate Cranberry Cake. So, so yummy! After dinner the kiddos opened up their Christmas Eve gifts, which was pajamas. I thought that this year would be the last one that Holly would want a nightgown, but as it turned out she would've prefered separates. But she's a champ and processed it and has worn her nightgown non-stop since! Cute pajamas are one of my favorite things to buy for my kids! We read our Christmas stories, put out egg nog and cookies for Santa and tucked the kiddos into bed. It all went pretty smoothly!

Right before Christmas, we met up with our friends at the Manito Park fireplace for hot chocolate, charades, marshmallows, snacks and carolling. We had the best time hanging out until way past dinnertime!

One of the first things we did upon arriving home was cut down a Christmas tree. We had to hike quite a ways in to find "the one." And even then, I had resigned myself to being a little less picky this year than in years past because I continually felt like a better tree was just around the next bend. Our tree felt like a bit of a settle, but once we got her home and in the house, I was very impressed with her! She's a beauty! Holly was a total champ and hiked that tree out with Conor. I'm so proud of her and so grateful!

This year's ornaments are green felt stockings with a bit of bead work.

And here she is in all her decorated glory!

For our Christmas Sunday Church, we acted out the nativity for Grandparents (via zoom). Conor wrote a beautiful script complete with music. My girls helped me think of costumes. We went through the Nativity Story and then took turns telling each other what the birth of Christ means to us personally. For me, it was a beautiful way to worship the Sunday before Christmas.