Christmas 2015

(A new favorite picture of these two, and one of many favorites from this weekend.  She's a daddy's girl, through and through)

It's late Monday night, three days after Christmas, and we are in the midst of a perfect snowstorm.  It started late last night after the last of our Christmas guests had left our house, and as I curled up deep within our cloud bed and listened to the wind blow outside, I felt so content.  Another Christmas passed, our first one in our new home, and I now look ahead to a wonderfully calm week of being home with my kids.  We have a fully stocked fridge with leftover lasagna, soup, and lots of Christmas sweets, the kids have enough new toys to keep them occupied for weeks, and we have nowhere in the world to be but tucked inside our nook with a fire going and our pajamas on.  All day long.  

Today was a good one.  Mila slept until 9, a record sleep for her, and we stayed in our pajamas all day long.  We had sugar cookies and cocoa for breakfast, played Doctor Dora with Mila's new babies, and cuddled up on the couch with popcorn and Inside Out when Beau got home from work.  Plans for the week involve nothing more than a trip to the book store, a morning matinee of Star Wars, and Kiwi Crates, and I couldn't be more excited.  While I'm always a bit sad to see the magical season of Christmas come and go, I have been looking forward to this week so much and have every intention to let it drip slowly and reset my clock as a new semester approaches.

And now, the kids are in bed, the wind is blowing outside, and my desktop is bursting with pictures of our Christmas.  It was a special one - our first in this house with two kids at wonderful ages for all things Christmas.  So, like my intentions of a slow drip week, I'm going to follow suit with this blog.  A few of my favorites at a time, with simple memories and captions to accompany them, before looking ahead at a new year.

Christmas fell really ideally this year, allowing me a few days to myself in between end-of-semester grading and Christmas vacation.  I listened to a lot of Jack Johnson holiday, made a lot of food, and wrapped a lot of presents, and by the time Beau and I picked up the kids after their Christmas parties at school, the house looked like a Christmas card and was more than ready to welcome us in a great big hug. 

Beau got off work early Wednesday and we picked up the kids together, a rare occurrence that always leads to double the smiles and double the hugs.  Their teachers were good to them and we left our center with stacks of wrapped gifts for them and us to open on Christmas morning.  We also received a month's worth of handmade paper plate manger scenes and one adorable personalized Christmas story, with words and illustrations by Cruz.  My favorite is his first page that reads: "Gabriel telled Mary she was going to have a baby and she was suppose to name him Jesus.  He was the holy son."  Mila had a pajama party and got to drink chocolate milk and watch a Veggie Tales Christmas - needless to say it was a good day for Cruz and Mila.

Wednesday night was a perfect and peaceful night at home.  I made supper, we drank wine, listened to Christmas music, and played cribbage while the kids watched Rudolph.  We played games, read Christmas books, and hung out around the tree before bidding Boone farewell and tucking the kids in their cozy beds.  I ended the night with one of my very favorite traditions of Christmas - Jimmy Stewart and It's a Wonderful Life in front of a fire.  

Fully engrossed in Rudolph, always happy to hog our bed.  

Some of my favorite pictures from our night.  The kids in their flannel jammies and Mila's piggies are just about the sweetest thing.