Christmas 2013!!!

Fun, fun, fun! I was worried about Christmas this year because I’ve been pretty much homebound with Eva with the exception of the occasional getaway to do some grocery shopping. Keeping up with life and preparing for Christmas was definitely tricky but Amazon.com saved the holiday! I did 95% of my shopping online and the other 5% was stocking stuffers for the kids that I got while doing grocery shopping, haha!

Christmas Eve we had a get together with some friends at our place. We ordered pizza and we each made an appetizer or dessert. It was great fun and made the day special even though we couldn’t be with our families. The Jarnot’s and the Bladh’s were our family this year:D

Rich and I decided that we need to simplify Christmas around here. In previous years I’ve kind of gone nuts and bought them a bunch of little gifts and they end up having so many presents that they don’t really appreciate anything. Everything ends up in the trash after a few months. Waste. Of. Money. They each got one big gift with just one or two smaller gifts. I loved it so much better this year. Next year I think I will do what my friend suggested and they will each get one big gift from Santa and from Rich and I they will each get 3 gifts…something they need, something they want and something to read. My friend said that this is their tradition because 3 gifts was enough for baby Jesus so it should be enough for them. I love that!

Eva was so tired Christmas Eve night that she went to bed before the kids opened their Christmas Jammies…

Here she is being festive the previous Sunday.

We set out the cookies that the girls made for Santa and they were off to bed.

Santa brought them their gifts and laid out their stockings…

From what I heard, they were all so excited in the morning. That’s right, I wasn’t there to see their excitement:( I didn’t know they were up and just snoozed the morning away with Eva. She is still sick so it was yet another sleepless night and I was tired. Aidan has recently gotten into Legos so Santa brought him a lego helicopter that he’s been building with daddy. Santa brought Maya some Magna Tiles which have been a huge hit with all of the kids. And he brought Arabella 2 build-a-bears with lots of cute clothes…(thanks Alisha!)

When I heard some commotion in the living room, Eva and I quickly jumped out of bed and the kids were so excited to see us because that meant they could open their presents! I didn’t take any pics, I just sat back with Eva and enjoyed watching their faces.

Aidan also got croup for Christmas and has since shared it with his sisters.

I got Rich a mirror to shave in the shower because I know how much he hates shaving after his showers and an Ironman visor to be worn after he completes his very first Ironman in June. He got me a new lens:D He sure knows what makes me happy. Just get me something for my camera and I’m happy girl. He got me an 85mm 1.4 manual focus lens. It's been fun to play around with and try to become an expert manual focuser. Here is my first example of what not to do…don’t take a million pictures while putting forth a lot of effort to get the kids to look at you while being out of focus.

On a more positive note, the tree is in focus! It’s gonna be fun learning this one:/ I really am excited.

We spent the rest of the day playing with their new toys and just hanging out. It was such a great day spent together having fun and not worrying about going anywhere or doing anything. Just being together made it so special.