christmas 2021

On Christmas Eve, Spencer and I were up early enjoying the sunrise and getting some work done before the day got crazy busy.

We let the girls pick which wrapping paper they wanted their gifts to be wrapped in (as in, the gifts they purchased for their siblings). Aaron asked Bible trivia questions before they could select their paper and it was adorable.

We went to church for Christmas service (I served in Nursery) and the big girls performed a couple Christmas songs to the congregation. Thankfully it got video taped so I could watch it when we got home.

Emmaline got to wear Gma’s dress that she wore when she was a girl. Rylie wore it when she was 2 years old and I wanted to make sure Emmaline wore it before she got too big.

After church we let the girls open their Christmas Eve gifts (our traditional new Christmas PJs and a book) and got our family pictures + polaroid.

I put all the ones we’ve taken next to each other and it gave me some feels.

We ate pizza and watched The Santa Clause 2 before going to bed.

Aaron and I stayed up a couple hours to wrap gifts and the next morning came quickly. Paisley woke up at 5am and I laid with her for another hour before I was unable to contain her and we hung out in the living room. Within a half hour, all three of the girls were up and by 7am, all four kids were up and asking when we could open gifts.

Aaron went to bed with a fever and asked to be left undisturbed for as long as possible, so I stalled and let the girls open a gift box I knew Aaron wouldn’t mind missing out on.

Aaron was up by 9am and we let the girls open their gifts. They absolutely loved seeing each other open the gifts they picked out and it really was the highlight.

Aaron didn’t feel much better so he went back to bed (only making a couple brief appearances the rest of the day), so the kids and I just did our own thing. Our plans with Aaron’s fam got cancelled because their household wasn’t feeling well either, so we played with their new toys, got a couple chores done and had a nice, slow bedtime routine.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it guys, I was extremely disappointed. Like, cranky about it. I had had a week of unmet expectations and my husband being so sick he couldn’t even be with us on Christmas Day just broke me. I tried to snap out of it but I struggled. It wasn’t until dinnertime that I finally started to come around and embrace the simplicity the day brought. I apologized to the girls for my attitude (which they quickly forgave) and we had a sweet evening together.

Anyway, I hope no matter what kind of Christmas you had, you can look back and find a moment of joy from it.