Christmas 2012

I know I am a week late on this post, but such is life in my world with two kids.

Our Christmas this year was fabulous. We celebrate with my side of the family the Saturday before Christmas. It is always crazy, especially with 8 grandkids! It is always funny for me to think back to other Christmases and how things have changed in such a short amount of time. Kids sure add a new sense if excitement to Christmas. Santa of course came to visit Meme and Papa's house again this year. Belle was still a bit unsure of him, but at least this time she didn't have a meltdown.

Each year my parents make us work for our Christmas gift. This year it was girls against guys in Minute to Win It games. Unfortunately the guys won, but I proved that I can empty a box of Kleenex in under 20 seconds!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Paul and I decided to spend at home with just out little family of four. We have decided that don't want our children's memories of Christmas to always be of hanging out in the car driving from one place to another. In some ways if feels like we really need to start creating our own family traditions now that there are four of us. I don't know why, but maybe I just feel like adding Evie has made me feel like we are truly our own family unit.

We didn't see much of Paul Christmas Eve. He spent the day at church helping with our four Christmas Eve services. He helped design and create the set of the sanctuary and it was beautiful! The series was called "Illuminate," so being a lighting guy, Paul was in his glory!

Christmas morning I made chocolate croissants. I hope to make this a new family tradition. This was something that Paul ate when he lived in France, so I felt it was fun to make part of our holiday tradition. We opened gifts, which didn't take too long since Belle had 3 gifts and Evie had 1. Paul and I had bought a baby monitor for our gift to each other. We joke about how you know you have kids when your gifts to each other are baby related. We are boring.

Belle got a dollhouse this year, and I think I was more excited than she was. I had more Barbie things as a kid, so this was new to me and I couldn't wait to put it together! It has provided us many hours of entertainment this past week. I can't wait to see Belle and Evie sitting by each other playing in the dollhouse in a couple years!

Our last Christmas party was with the Thompson side. It was a whirlwind day, as we did the trip to Lake Orion and back in one day. In some ways this is easier than packing everyone up overnight and the dog. So much junk goes along with two kids, especially a new baby. We even packed up the swing and the bouncy in the back of the van for the trip since Evie loves them so much! We might be crazy, but I'd rather be prepared!

Time with the Thompson side was loads of fun. Belle loved running around after here cousin, Caden. She is finally at an age where she can actually be a fun playmate for him. Every year we eat raclette for lunch. This is one of my most favorite meals of the year! Imagine melted cheese poured over meats and veggies. It's sooooo good! Paul and I definitely learned that life with two kids is much busier and sitting down for a meal isn't as relaxing, however, being with family is nice because there were always willing arms to hold Evie while we ate.

Our Christmas this year was so much fun, and a great time with family. We often talk about how nice it is that we get along so well with both sides of our families. We like being with our families, which makes this time of year more enjoyable. Watching Belle open gifts this year was much more exciting as she understood it more. She is learning that Christmas has something to do with a baby named Jesus and singing to him "Happy Birthday."

I hope everyone had as great of a Christmas as we did! Now, time for loads if pics to match this LONG post.