I should have taken some pictures of the decorations in Sims' room. I have always put a small tree in his room, but this year he went all out. Mom was purging some of her old Christmas stuff, and Sims wanted a huge amount of it! His room has filled with Santas. There was a chef Santa, fishing Santa, golfing Santa, NC State Santa... He was so sad to put them away, but he got to put some model airplanes in their place, which made him very happy! (Thanks, Smith, for the airplanes!)
Well, on to our Christmas celebration. Our celebration always starts on Christmas Eve. Mom, Smith and Isla came over to help us decorate dozens and dozens of sugar cookies. Both of the kiddos did a great job decorating without a lot of help. Once they had the icing on the cookie, they spent a fair amount of time and creativity on each one.
Cookie decorating is a newish tradition for us. We've only been doing it for a few years, and it is something that we all look forward to doing. We made so many cookies though! I think we may still have a couple left!
I, also, have to mention that this was our first Christmas with our new kitchen, and I just kept gushing about how much I love the kitchen. And this was after days of baking and baking and more baking.
After our Christmas Eve dinner of shrimp and grits (perhaps the beginning of another tradition?), we headed out to church. Once home, Sims chose some cookies to leave out for Santa, and we all got to bed early.
Surprisingly, Sims slept in on Christmas morning. The first thing that he said when he woke up was "Did Santa come?" He has so excited to see that Santa had visited our house, and he got exactly what he had asked Santa to bring him: a 3-wheeled scooter, a helmet and a trumpet.
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| Playing his trumpet while balancing on his new balance board that Jason and I gave him. That takes some skill! |
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| Showing off his chef's hat and apron |
After a lazy morning opening and enjoying our gifts, we headed over to Mom and Smith's house. Sims spent the afternoon mastering his scooter skills.
It didn't take him long to get the hang of turning and using the brake.
Once Isla got there, the two of them had a grand 'ole time.
Those two love each other so much. It is such a wonderful thing to see.
This was a special Christmas Day celebration because Neely's parents got to join us. They are lots of fun, and we loved having them with us. I hope they can join us every year.
The day after Christmas we left for Charlotte to visit with Jason's family. We spent the rest of the week there, where I didn't take a single picture. It's all or nothing when it comes to me taking pictures, I guess. We spent our visit hanging out, eating, shopping, looking at art at the Mint Museum, and having a girls' night. The girls' night consisted of dinner and a cute play called the Winter Wonderettes. Girls' nights are always fun!
We came back home exhausted but happy. We had a wonderful Christmas!
LOVE IT!!!
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