Finishing Up Christmas.....

Today was my *down time*....as much down time as I could get alone with the three littles. :) Funny how I LOVE the holidays but once I'm in the middle of them I'm ready for life to resume as normal. Today I took down all things Christmas except the tree....just because i knew the kids would still enjoy the twinkling lights in the evening...best to give it a day or two longer.

On the 23 zac was working and the kids and I were anxiously awaiting Christmas Eve. Grammy and Granddaddy were expected on the 24th plus Zac would be home early in the morning...the food and fun would begin! We had one last eggnog toast with each other and finally made actual gingerbread MEN. This year has taught me that Christmas cookie decorating = happy children. Definitely something fun to do with them that is creative and different from the norm.

Trinity aimed to put as many candies and sprinkles on each cookie as humanly possible....

Brady was much more precise. On one of his little men he put 5 mini chocolate chips on each hand and each foot....I asked what he was doing when I saw all the chocolate clustered together and he let me know that they needed toes. :)

We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon one) and then the kids had coloring time. Brayden never actually colors...he just makes long books about whatever is in his head. Today the book was all about the Grinch...complete with random illustrations.

My little writing elf.

Christmas Eve did come and so did the grandparents and daddy. We had a relaxing day and lots of food. The menu for the evening was a layered bean dip, a large turkey sub sand which, deviled eggs, fruit platter (cherries, clementines, and grapes) gingerbread cookies and gingersnaps, lemonade and carrots with fiesta ranch dip. Luscious. We exchanged gifts and I came away with a lovely hand knitted sweater....I don't have a picture of my own but will get one sometime soon to show off my mother in law's handiwork.....so lovely.

That evening Zac snuck Trin's dollhouse in and placed the kids gifts under the tree...even put ribbon around them all by himself. Zac gets so excited about giving gifts and having things set up perfectly....it makes my heart glad.

We had a somewhat trying night complete with 4 wake up calls from Mr. Tristan and his never ending teething mouth! On top of that Trinity's little body woke up at 5:30 am instead of her usual 6:45 am - we had to keep her in her room all that time because we didn't want her finding the little houses without Brady being there.

But alas, present time came and both kids were absolutely delighted with what they found. Trin adores her daddy's handiwork and Brady loved his Melissa and Doug firehouse (after some explaining ,on our part, why there wasn't an actual fire alarm in the station and working electricity.)

Brady sporting his new T shirt from little sis.....Brady gave her a doll named Jenna (Jenna and Trin are best friends forever more.)

And then Mr. Sleepyhead finally woke up from a long night. This picture is blurry but I think it adds to his "what the heck is going on" demeanor. He loved his little wooden shape sorter and puzzle from Aunt Rachel.

I was off to prepare brunch in my robe I found under the tree from my Love. Love it love it love it. Me and American Eagle anything. Zac has learned over the last two years that American Eagle = happy wife in our home. We all have our little *things* don't we....

The Grandparents came over for brunch and helped us enjoy our Honeybaked ham (compliments of the fire department) and all the fixin's. I made sweet potato casserole, scrambled eggs, fruit, and scones. So much fun this year all fitting around our kitchen table....we got to add the leaf for the first time. :)

The most special thing about the day (apart from family time) was waking up to Georgia's first white Christmas in over 20 years. We got around 6 inches....enough to look out at glistening white heaps and mounds and icicle covered trees......enough for zac to get out his snowboard and for the kids to build a snowman (I stayed inside with a cup of starbucks holiday blend coffee....)

Trinity went out for awhile but got tired and had some more Q.T. time with her dollhouse and new baby doll. I love how the little house looks in her room and how that day out her window was a winter wonderland....

I was eventually convinced to go outside to take some family pictures....Tristan was trying to nap and not doing a very good job at it. Since we don't actually own a coat for him I decided against letting him play outside.

So, here's to another Christmas. It was special having Grammy and Granddaddy here.....having a distraction and someone to share a day with - doesn't happen much for us. The snow was also such a nice treat from God. As we were putting away some of the decor this year my mind did what it does best...wanders to the future. I couldn't stop thinking about how fast time flies and next year we will have four littles around us...maybe a new house if God chooses, maybe answers for Brady....maybe school starting for Trin - SO MANY THINGS. I'm excited about this year coming up....excited for maybe the *completion* of our family (if there are no *oops* afterwards :0 ), excited about the things that we will be learning and the ways we will be growing. Zac and I will be celebrating 7 years together in a little over a week...how did THAT happen?!

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas....