I guess normally Christmas for us has lasted at least a week. We’ve always gone home to Washington to visit for a while. When we’ve done that we’ve been busy going back and forth between our families’ houses, but we’ve also had plenty of time to sit and relax and enjoy company.
This year we stayed in Utah for a small and quiet Christmas with just the three of us. With Kyle just beginning his job, he didn’t have any time he could take off from work. And that was ok, I think we all enjoyed it.
When it comes time for preparing for Christmas I’ve always focused on buying/making gifts, baking and putting up our tree. I haven’t ever had to take meals into consideration. So… I kind of dropped the ball on the nice Christmas dinner and the special breakfast. We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner of Pizza Rolls. And that’s about it. No special drink (I miss you slush), no sides, nothing. My bad. At least the pizza was good. But that wasn’t anything special either, just pepperoni. But at least it was bite sized!
After pizza we opened up our Christmas pajamas from Kyle’s mom. We put them on and drove around Bountiful looking at the Christmas lights. We came home, Hailey read a few Christmas books and off to bed she went. Kyle and I watched Elf and Home Alone while we worked on a puzzle and snacked.
Hailey woke up at 7:30 am, just like always. And then we opened presents. This was the first year I haven’t opened presents on Christmas Eve. My family does Christmas dinner Christmas Eve, a short Christmas program from the scriptures and singing hymns, and then opening presents. On Christmas morning is when Santa presents are out, unwrapped. I’ve been debating with Kyle for over a month whether or not Santa wraps presents. Kyle’s family traditions are exactly the opposite of mine. When we went home for Christmas it worked out perfectly. But when we were doing our own Christmas, it didn’t make things as easy. Somehow I caved in and we opened presents Christmas morning, and I even wrapped (or put it in a bag) Hailey’s present from Santa (Leap Frog Tag and Tag Junior Books- which I got at a great price. Yay for online Black Friday shopping!). I at least made sure Hailey’s gift and stocking were sitting on the couch separate from the other gifts. Santa’s gifts can’t be with all of the others! Anyway… we opened presents:
And Hailey got a whole lot of loot. Her grandparents love her. It also helps to be the only grandchild on either side.
And then we ate breakfast. And because I am super lame, we just had cold cereal for breakfast Christmas morning. The same thing we eat every other morning.
We skyped with both of our families, rested for a little bit, went to church, rested a little bit more, and then went over to one of Kyle’s BYU Industrial Design buddies family’s house for Christmas dinner. It was so fun to see the Klugs and their girls. (Thanks again for having us over!)
Overall it was a great day. I just wish it lasted longer so we could enjoy more of it!
Hey, we had pizza on Christmas Eve. We both worked that day, so we just picked it up after I got off. It was yummy, but we did open presents on Christmas Eve. That was my family tradition and Eric couldn't resist getting his presents 12 hours sooner, so my tradition won. Good luck to you guys establishing your own traditions. I'm a fan of Christmas eve present opening and then Santa in the morning. Probably because I'm not much of a morning person and I don't feel like I'm hurting anyone's feelings when I just fly through my santa stuff and go right back to bed.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!