Our Family Christmas-2015

Eli woke us up bright and early (5:00 AM) to tell us that Santa Claus had been to our house. He was so excited and couldn't wait to see what was under the tree! I grabbed my camera, started the coffee (really strong coffee), and went into the living room with Eli. 

Eli knew that Christmas Eve was Elfis' last night with us, but he was excited to see that Elfis had left him a new Christmas movie. We love all the Buddies movies and knew this one would be great just like all the others!

This year Eli's three gifts he asked for from Santa were a set of drums, a Buzz Lightyear laser gun, and new arrows for his bow he got for his birthday. The first thing Eli grabbed was the Buzz Lightyear laser gun. He started blasting everything around him! 

He was momentarily distracted from his three gifts when he noticed how full his stocking was. He grabbed it and started going through it to see what Santa had stuffed in there. 

Eli's loot from his stocking. 

My stocking

Josh's stocking

Eli started pulling out the presents from under the tree and passed them out. We didn't get him very much,  just a few little things. Josh and I normally do small gifts for each other or no gifts at all. It's so much more fun to watch Eli open all his! 

He got a new Swiss Army knife to use when he goes camping. 

New headphones

A new Bible

An LSU belt buckle

Eli found a letter from Santa Claus tucked in the Christmas tree and asked us to help him read it. Santa told him that there was one big gift from us and Grandpa E under the tree. He wanted Eli to open it last.

Eli was surprised to see that it was a set of electric drums! Josh, Grandpa E, and I wrote Santa and told him we wanted to get the drums for Eli and asked if Santa would get him new blue drumsticks. That sounded great to Santa so that's what we did!

My favorite picture I take every year is this one below. I love seeing the giant mess on the floor where lots of special Christmas memories are made every year. What a fun day!

While Josh started assembly on the drum set, I popped some cinnamon rolls in the oven and made more coffee. It was going to be a long morning :) Eli started playing with all of his gifts. 

It didn't take long and soon Eli was jamming along on his new drums! 

My favorite feature is the headphone option. This is biggest reason you get electric drums :)  Especially when your kid is just learning how to keep a beat...

My little rockstar in training

Eli with his Christmas gifts. 

After everything had been opened, Daddy came out with one more gift. It was a very special gift that Josh couldn't wait to give him...a new hunting gun (such a rite of passage for little boys down here in the South). Eli was bound and determined to kill a deer this season and he needed a hunting gun to do that. Josh and Eli were both excited about getting to use it on their next hunting trip. 

Barkley came in to get his Christmas gifts from Santa. I didn't get a picture of his gifts, but he got a brand new leather collar and a big Busy Bone from Santa. He loved them both :)

The rest of our Christmas morning was spent playing with all of Eli's new gifts. Zue-Zue came over to see everything that Eli got from Santa and she stayed and visited with us for a long time. Some of the grown ups might have taken naps, which were DESPERATELY needed! It was a fun day but it was over before we knew it. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Counting Down 'Til Christmas Eve

One of my favorite things I love about the Christmas season is getting to share fun activities and traditions with Eli. Most of the things we do are traditions we've created for our family and each one is very special to us. Here are ten of the Christmas traditions our family does every year. 

1. Build a Gingerbread House. Sometimes our gingerbread house doesn't turn out so well, and some years it's worthy of a magazine cover. This year's house turned out okay and we didn't have any major issues with the construction. Maybe one year I'll get brave enough to bake my own gingerbread house, but for now the kits make it incredibly easy and fun.  

2. Neighbor Gifts. I've always given our neighbors some type of treat along with our family Christmas card, but the past two years I've done cinnamon rolls (Pioneer Woman's recipe) and they're my favorite. About a week before Christmas, I spend one weekend making all the cinnamon rolls. The best part about PW's recipe is you can freeze them until you're ready to use them on Christmas morning. I also make sure I have a couple of pans of cinnamon rolls leftover for our family to have for Christmas morning as well! Eli and I set aside one afternoon to drive around our neighborhood and give them to our neighbors. It's just a small way to show some Christmas love to our friends and neighbors. 

3. Christmas arts and crafts. I usually paint at least one door hanger to keep or in this case to give as a present. I love making gifts for my friends. This particular Christmas door hanger went to my friend Sarah at school :)

4. Christmas treats for Eli's friends. We always make some type of Christmas treat for Eli to pass out to his friends during their school Christmas party. This year we took Twix bars and turned them into reindeer. Aren't they cute?

5. Bake cookies and Gingerbread men. I always bake different types of cookies at Christmas. My favorite Christmas cookie is my Rolo Cookie. This year we also bake Gingerbread men. Eli had lots of fun decorating them.

6. Gifts for our trash collectors and our mailman. Our gifts usually aren't much (mostly cookies I've baked), but they are a great way we can show our thanks and appreciation to the men who provide these great services for us. Eli reminded me every time we left a gift that "Christmas is really about giving." I love that he's learning that lesson at such a young age :)

7. Make Reindeer Food. We love making this special treat for Santa's reindeer every year. It's just oats and sugar sprinkles, but it gives the reindeer the energy they need to make it around the world to every house on Christmas Eve. 

Eli will be the first to tell you that his favorite part is when he gets to add the sugar sprinkles.

After we make the food, we all go outside and Eli sprinkles the food in our yard for the reindeer to eat while Santa delivers the presents. 

We love going out in the morning to see if the food is gone and every year only tiny crumbs are left. Those reindeer gobble it up!

8. Bake Christmas cookies. Just like with the reindeer food Eli's favorite part of baking Christmas cookies is getting to decorate them, but I love sharing this tradition with him.

Notice I'm in my Christmas jammies again. They got a lot of use this season :) 

While the cookies baked, Eli took his bath and got ready for bed. He loved wearing his Christmas jammies as well! Then it was time to select a few cookies for Santa, pour him a tall glass of milk, and write him a note. 

9. Christmas books. When Eli was about one, I found a pin on Pinterest where it suggested wrapping 25 Christmas books at the beginning of December. Each night leading up to Christmas Day your kid selects a book to unwrap and read before bed. We've done this for as long as I can remember and it is one of my favorite traditions we do. Since I used to teach 1st grade I had TONS of Christmas books so I didn't have to go out and buy any. In fact, I usually have too many books to select from and wrap. We do a good mix of traditional Christmas books and books that tell about Jesus' birth. Eli loves them all, but he definitely has books that are his favorite. This year he was very specific about which book he wanted to read on Christmas Eve night...

He wanted to listen to the story The Night Before Christmas that actually has my parents reading the story to Eli. They recorded it several years ago and Eli loves listening to it every year. For grandparents that live away from your grandchildren, this is such a great gift for your grandchildren! Eli LOVES this book that connects him to his Grammy and Pop! 

After listening to The Night Before Christmas, we said prayers and tucked Eli into bed. He knew that he had to go to sleep before Santa would visit our house.

10. Decorating our house for Christmas. One of my favorite Christmas traditions each year is dragging out all the boxes and containers of Christmas decorations and making our home look festive. I love Christmas decorations and I love the way my house looks at Christmas time. It's definitely one of my favorite thing! Before I went to bed Christmas Eve, I took a few pictures of our house decorated for the Christmas season. 

These are just ten of the things our family does each year during Christmas time. I love sharing all of these traditions with Eli and Josh. I love that we're making special memories for Eli each year. It'll be fun to see which traditions he continues with his family one day and what new traditions he'll add. Here is a list of some of the other things we do at Christmas time:

-decorate the outside of our house in Christmas lights

-listen to Christmas music (on repeat at home, school, and in my car) all month long

-write a letter to Santa

-send a Christmas box to soldiers overseas

-make a box for Operation Christmas child

-send our Christmas cards

-read stories about Jesus' birth and decorate the Jesse tree

-welcome Elfis' arrival

Hope your family had a wonderful month leading up to Christmas just like we did!