A Record of Rose: Christmas 2017 Recap

Here we are, halfway through ~~January~~ February and I feel like I am finally coming out from the other side of Christmas. I got all my decor taken down last weekend, threw away all the stale Christmas cookies in my pantry, and am working on sorting through some reflections. I wanted to take a minute to recap here on my blog just for posterity and to remember what we did for future years. It seems silly, but even this year we were like, "What time did we go to Christmas Eve service last year?"..sometimes the devil is in the details. :o)

The girls loved the Christmas season and were on board with all the festivities, Santa and baby Jesus. Three is so much fun, it can get lost in how hard it is, too (times two!).

One thing that really surprised me was how much of a good helper they were in making holiday treats. I was not expecting it or anticipating it and it ended up being some really nice family moments. They were really good at opening up all the little candies, which is usually the most time consuming part of making those little pretzel cookies or the peanut butter ones.

Michael did a great job in his program at church and we were so proud of him! It is such a nice family holiday day. My favorite part is just getting to church super early and having time to visit while you wait for the program to start.

Give me all the Christmas jammies!!

Again, I was not anticipating the girls having any interest in helping with sugar cookies but they loved it. Michael was such a good helper big brother, it was fun to see him show them the ropes. We made these just a few days before Christmas (the 22nd, I think). I usually cut them out one night and then decorate them the next day. I even made a smaller batch this year and it still felt like too many- they are just so darn fun to cut out and bake.

Lots and lots of Christmas stories...I keep expanding my collection (I cannot resist a good Christmas book) but I feel like we keep running out of time to read them all. I think we'd have to read about five every single day to get through them all but we all have our favorites we want to keep re-reading. My favorites are the ones you can sing along to. I saw lots of people sharing their favorites this year- maybe an idea for next year (they are all put away now, of course).

Decorating cookies and more candy unwrapping! The girls and Michael were the sprinklers and did a really good job of taking turns.

Long convos with Rudolph.

We finally got our family schedule worked out so we can have my side of Christmas on the years my mom is off work (she works every other holiday). I hope this will work itself into a nice rhythm in the years to come with us being able to alternate celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mom hasn't been able to come to a Christmas on the actual holiday since the year she had her accident and that was just because she was on leave from work at the time (2013).

Anyway, my parents and Denise came for lunch on Christmas Eve day (we had soup) and then we headed downtown for Hope's Christmas Eve service at Wells Fargo Arena. We went to the 2:00 service. It was the first year they were doing it at Wells Fargo and I was excited. There were tons of promises about how much room there would be and plenty of room for everyone to bring two guests. What I didn't anticipate was the traffic, the amount of time it would take to park, and then the time it would take to walk. Usually when we are going to events at Wells Fargo, we are not toting two toddlers with us. It was also very snowy and the sidewalks were slippery and slushy- which involved lots of lifting little girls up and down over puddles. All that being said, it was a little hectic once inside but it worked. I felt like we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there but if they do it again next year, I would leave even earlier.

It is so hard as those services are so busy at Hope. I liked going to the Hub, but it still made me worried about getting a spot to sit. I know these are all silly problems, what a great thing to have lots of people trying to get to church on Christmas Eve! It was a great service and I loved it. I thought it was so exciting having it at Wells Fargo and seeing all the people there. The kids were awesome and very well behaved.

We stopped at the cemetery very briefly as it was super cold and then headed back home for dinner of meatballs, veggie pizza, veggies, and cookies.

Christmas morning was so magical as usual...everyone was so pleased with their gifts and stockings from Santa.

We had a brunch of baked french toast (our tradition), sausage, fruit and mimosas/coffee. It was so good!

Christmas dinner was a bit of a bust as my brother and his daughter couldn't make it as they were under the weather and my other brother and his wife weren't able to make it. It was still lovely, and the ham was delicious and easy to prepare. We also had rolls, salad, fruit, and cheesy potatoes. And we can't forget mom's famous strawberry salad (so good!).