Christmas 2017

 This year Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, so we couldn't go skiing or do much to celebrate.  We invited my family over for dinner.  Then we opened and read our new Christmas book and the nativity story.  But nothing too interesting happened that day.

Because of moving into our new home and our recent trip to Florida, we decided to have a low-key Christmas this year.  Santa only brought each kid 2 presents and a small item in their stocking.  Each kid picked out one gift for their siblings.  And Isaac and I got each kid one gift.  I was worried it wouldn't feel like they got enough, but I actually loved it.  And by the time they got gifts from Grandparents and extended family, they had plenty.  But it was so nice to open gifts on Christmas morning and actually have time for them to play with them.  We weren't rushed to open everything really fast.  And I felt like the kids really got to appreciate the things they were given.

Isaac made Luke a boat for Christmas.  As he gets older, it can be used as a bookshelf instead.  Isaac didn't have enough time to completely finish Luke's boat before Christmas, but it was close enough to give it to him anyway.  Although I hate the amount of time right before Christmas that Isaac spends making these gifts for the kids, they always turn out really good.  And I hope the kids will appreciate them for the rest of their lives.

Aspen was soooo cute on Christmas morning.  She was bursting with excitement and ran downstairs to see the presents.  The first thing she opened was the tiny little Harry Potter figurine that she found in her stocking.  She was just bouncing up and down and squealing with excitement.  (Which was a good thing because I few days before Christmas she was given a gift from one of her friends and was very rude about not liking it.  So we had a stern little chat about how to act when someone gives you a present--even if you don't like it.  And apparently it worked because she was a sweetie on Christmas Day.)

After we opened gifts, we went to Grandma Sugar's house.  The girls each got a cute large pony to go with the dolls that Santa brought.  And Luke got a cool tool bench.  We had fun spending some time with them.

Then we went up to the Lloyd's house.  The kids had fun running around with their cousins.  Then we opened gifts.  By the end of the night we were all exhausted, but we had a great day.