Christmas Vacation: Part Two

**I thought I had posted this 2 days ago and then just got on here and realized it was a draft. Whoops!**

We are back to a NORMAL week around here and I could not be more happy about it! I love breaks and obviously Christmas, but I also really love January and February for the quiet and normal routine (except for that we leave on Saturday for another trip....thankfully it is a beach vacation that will hopefully be relaxing).

So, back to my novel on our Christmas vacation...

Sunday was Christmas Eve and one of my favorite days of our stay at my parents. I slept in, the kids watched Christmas movies, and once I was up we started making Christmas cookies for Santa, complete with Laura's very good Christmas music playlist going in the background. At some point Bryan took the boys sledding again so I could actually get the dough and icing made and rolled out uninterrupted (and also because if I remember correctly, there were two little boys bouncing off the walls, and they weren't my Dad and Bryan ;) but once they got back we were ready for showtime with sprinkles and what ended up looking like icing soup:

We were able to FaceTime with my Mom's side of the family down in Lufkin during all this, too!

After our packed morning, we all got ready for Christmas Eve service at my parents church (the church Bryan and I met at many years ago).

We managed to make it out the door on time (!) and enjoyed service with everyone but my Dad who wasn't feeling good that day (bummer). I always love getting to go back to our old church....it is full of so many of our all-time favorites memories from youth group and dating and just growing up. Service was great (any service with Christmas carols and candlelight is a good one in my book) aside from the usual toddler antics and Parker did a great job holding his candle all by himself (Hayes and Lily not so much).

After church and getting to catch up with a few of our old friends we headed to eat at Breckenridge Brewery which is one of my family's favorite restaurants.  They made this cast iron skillet bread that is to die for! I need to get a knock off recipe to make at home.

By this time my Dad had joined us, too!

Oh! And we got to go by my sister's adorable new house that she just moved into near right by downtown Littleton. It's such a great location and suits her cool self.

Once we got home, the boys were worked up and EXCITED. We got our jammies on, watched a little bit of It's a Wonderful Life, and then let the children open one present from Nonnie and Pops before bed.

After what I would call a rambunctious early evening, we sat out cookies, coke, wrote our letter to Santa (written by mostly me ;), and threw some greens and reindeer food out in the yard.

Bryan took the kids upstairs to read their last Christmas books of the season (ending with The Night Before Christmas) and then me, Bryan, my Mom, and Julie played Santa's Elves until the week hours of the morning.

On Christmas morning, Parker woke up and I about died of sweetness. "It's Christmas morning! Merry Christmas!" The kids tore into their presents and then did their "big gift" letter from Santa scavenger hunt (a tradition from the Roberts side) which was a trip to Great Wolf Lodge (more on that later).

Hayes had fun with his Dum-Dum suckers (like why do we buy toys)....

I honestly don't remember much of Christmas Day other than the kids played with their toys (Parker built one of his LEGO sets right away and drew on hisnew light up tracing pad)....

The boys made a trip to the sled hill again....

And we cooked!

We worked in the kitchen for most of the morning and afternoon (Well really my Mom did, but I helped! Ha.) I also got the table set and decorated which is one of my favorites things to do.

Christmas Dinner was amazing! My Mom is a really good cook and she always does a good job of making holiday meals that aren't too done up but will pretty and delicious. My favorite was either the turkey or southern style green beans.

After dinner, we had dessert and then opened the rest of our gifts from each other. I wanted everyone to go one at a time because I was sad that the day was almost over and that this would be our last round of gifts. :(

(I know my sisters with both thank me for that photo 😂) 

After dinner we sat around recovering, playing with SEGA, and eventually for the children to bed. Amen!

I'm still not sure why as I was 100% exhausted but we went to see the movie Darkest Hour after the kids were in bed. Thankfully I'm a sucker for any historical drama (as is Bryan) so I managed to keep my eyes open for it!

Also it was VERY cold outside...

Whew! Tired. 

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