Christmas Celebrations 2019 part 2
After starting our Christmas break in the mountains, we enjoyed two more weeks of family time and fun! Cory ended up being off my entire break and it was such a nice few weeks to spend time together, play with our new toys, visit family and friends, and eat way too much food!
Christmas Eve
Once we got home from our mountain getaway, we had a few visitors stop by. Jojo, Sandra, and the girls asked if they could drop a gift by for Baker. Baker loves her Jojo and “Aunt Sandy” (as Cory is so desperate to get her to call her) and it was so sweet of them to get her a unicorn big enough to ride- which was one of the gifts she really wanted.
After unloading the car, going to the grocery store, and the whole family getting baths, we got ready for a Christmas Eve service in town. Our church doesn’t have one, but it’s a tradition I grew up with and one I’ve really missed since getting married and having Cory’s family celebration on Christmas Eve. We found one that would mostly fit our schedule and only make us a little late to Nanny Opal’s house so we decided to go. It was a wonderful service and a tradition I hope our family can continue.
After finger foods and appetizers at Nanny’s, we opened presents with Cory’s dad’s side of the family.
We’ve come a long way from a little girl who had a big meltdown over taking photos a few years ago.
Nanny Opal’s is where Baker spends her days and Nanny and Papa hold a very, very special place in Baker’s heart (and vice versa).
Right up there with Nanny and Papa as Baker’s favorite people is her Gigi!
With Pop, Aunt T, and Uncle Keelan coming in a close 2nd! While I love starting new traditions with my little family, it sure is nice to get time with Cory’s family.
After singing Christmas carols all the way home, we each opened our special present…
Which is our matching family PJ’s! We will do this tradition as long as Baker thinks it’s cool to have “family jammies” which I secretly hope is forever.
This was really the first year Baker had any idea who Santa Claus was and she was genuinely so excited! Getting a picture of one excited little girl on Christmas Eve was almost impossible.
Baker was really into the book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” this year and enjoyed watching the movies too so we had a snack and finished the original “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”.
We tucked Baker in and read the story of Jesus’s birth (we actually read a few of our favorites to explain the birth of Christ). Then we heard a call over the radio that Santa had been spotted in Oconee County so we knocked right out so Santa could come!
All of our children were snug in their bed…
Santa was prepared this year and did most of her his wrapping in the weeks prior because she he knew we would be out of town up until Christmas Eve and the 24th is always busy for us! Unlike years past, Santa had come and gone before 11:00pm.
Baker was a good girl this year but I’m not sure she was that good! To be honest, we were incredibly blessed by our neighbor when he gave us the practically brand new pink race car to give to Baker. I’m a big consignment shopper too, so a few of her gifts, including the Frozen castle, were purchased used. I also wrap everything- I’m pretty sure I even wrapped a new toothbrush. So while the number of gifts she received this year was more than we would normally do, we actually spent less on this Christmas than Christmases in the past.
We even caught a picture of Santa dropping Baker’s presents off with Daddy’s camera which was set up on the tripod to record Christmas morning 😉.
Santa had some tired little elves.
The very first time I asked Baker what she wanted to ask Santa for she told me “squishy poop”. By the way, she saw Santa for the first time this year at her Baptist preschool. I sure hope she didn’t tell that Santa, in her beautiful smocked Christmas dress, that she wanted squishy poop for Christmas. But I’m sure she did! She also said she wanted a swing set even though she hates to swing. We were actually a little worried about this one because even after we had her big gift, she consistently said she wanted a swing set for Christmas.
But my goodness, she sure looked cute no matter what she asked for 😍.
Christmas Morning
We had to wake Baker around 9:00am because she takes after her mama and is a late sleeper. Mama and Daddy were thrilled, though! When she came in the living room and saw what Santa brought her, she said “Woah! I love what Santa just brought me.” Cory pointed out that Santa brought her a big pink race car (we had talked up the race car just in case Santa couldn’t fit a swing set in his sleigh) and while she walked over to look at the race car, she saw her squishy poop. She literally gasped and squealed “Squishy poop! Santa! Squishy poop!” It doesn’t get any better than being speechless from squishy poop.
Baker is definitely a methodical present un-wrapper. She takes her time and has to make sure that every last piece of paper is off the gift before she acknowledges what it is. Maybe this will change one day soon but the poor child doesn’t stand much of a chance to not be OCD about stuff like that.
She is currently obsessed with cheetahs and the only two toy cheetahs “Santa” could find was one that was about 4 feet tall and $125 or the little 3 inch cheetah in her hand. Good thing “he” didn’t go with the massive, expensive one because she was thrilled with the one she got!
My parents and Gracie came by to see Baker open a few of her gifts!
And Baker found a few more presents under the tree from Mama and Daddy!
Growing up, I don’t recall always having gifts from Santa and mom and dad. I know there were years where we would get a special gift from our parents but it isn’t something I specifically remember every year. We just had a pile of wrapped gifts and I knew that Santa had come. Turns out, it’s a real thing and social media, a few friends, and even Cory insisted that she needs gifts specifically from us. I actually think that most people do the majority of their gifts from the parents and a few gifts from Santa. I’m curious as to what your family does?
Once all the gifts were open, she took her new pink race car for a spin around the house.
And then discovered she still had to open her stocking!
Christmas Day
After all the gifts were opened, it was time to break them all in! One of Baker’s favorite gifts was the game “Feed the Woozle“.
Since it was pretty day, we took her car outside to try it out. Baker is notoriously a scaredy cat and we were a little worried that she would be afraid of the car.
She was! (And still is- she will drive it about 3 or 4 feet then want to get out. Same goes for bicycles.) Also, a huge parenting Santa fail…the battery wouldn’t hold a charge so I guess it’s a good thing she didn’t really want to drive it.
While I was still lounging in my pj’s (I miss going to my grandmother’s on Christmas Day like we did growing up but it is soooooo nice getting to stay around the house on Christmas day) Gigi and Pop came by to see Baker open their gifts.
And while she still didn’t want to drive it very much, she did want to show them her new “pink race car”.
Christmas Night
Our last celebration for the day was at my parent’s house. We kept the menu light, with ham sandwiches (real ham and yeast rolls) with soups. It was perfect after a few days of heavy eating.
Gracie had been eyeing her gift under our tree for a few weeks and even guessed exactly what it was. It’s harder to surprise kids the older they get because she told me exactly what she wanted. I guess I should have wrapped it in a bigger box 🤣.
Baker looks like she is really tearing into the gift but really just making sure she’s got all the paper off.
We got Carson the game Yeti in My Spaghetti and the kids immediately wanted to play which may be one of my favorite parts of Christmas!
I think Baker’s most favorite gift was the unicorn fan she had in her hand. She kept up with it for at least 2 weeks. Go figure!
When I say that we took no less than 200 pictures to try to get one where all the children were looking, not making a weird face, smiling, and eyes were open I’m not exaggerating in the least bit. These were the best we got.
To be honest, the last one is the best because they were all just over it at that point.
But we did get these two precious pictures of Baker and Carson individually.
And that’s a wrap on our Christmas 2019 celebrations! We actually had two more celebrations after this with my grandparents but I didn’t take a single picture at either one. Awful, I know but getting as much family time as possible made for the best Christmas break ever with my sweet family.
