Christmas 2018

So Christmas with a newborn was definitely a new experience. I feel bad, but I just wasn't in the decorating mood at all this year (maybe it's because I watched so many Hallmark movies that I wanted to decorate like those and I definitely don't have those decorations or the money to get the decorations like in those movies right now haha). I was also hoping to do more family traditional things this year (like go see decorated homes, make gingerbread houses, take the kids to see Santa, matching pajamas and movie night, etc.), but adding a 2nd kid really kicked my trash when it came to having motivation to do anything but keep everyone alive each day (I even forgot about my birthday this year) haha. Plus I really wanted to focus on getting Gwen on a good bed time routine this month so doing anything that kept us out too late wasn't an option for me.

Well even with all that, celebrating the big day was still awesome. We knew we couldn't keep wrapped gifts out with Cara running around so we had them all stashed away in a bedroom (we also cheated and ordered everything on Amazon and had them wrap anything that could come wrapped so we didn't have to worry about that part) so when Christmas Eve came around, once the girls were down for the night, we had fun grabbing everything and putting it all under the tree. Some toys weren't wrapped so we made sure to display those for Cara. It was a really rough day (my fault though, I wanted Gwen to nap so I could do what I wanted and she just didn't want to and Cara was throwing tantrums so I was having a hard day with my patience being tested all day), but seeing all the gifts made me realize that Christmas is a new day and I can't wait to see Cara's face when she sees the gifts - Gwen will only care that she has her binky so I can't be excited for her to see anything haha.



Our incredibly large haul haha

So this morning I made sure to have Larry get Cara so that I could record her reaction and he was telling me that right at the top of the stairs (where you can see a tiny bit into the Christmas Tree Room) she noticed a change and kept pointing to it like "what's that down there? I see something new!" haha. When she got down to the room she was so excited at everything! It was literally the best part of the whole day.



Alexa playing Christmas music for us while we opened gifts



Waiting for Cara to come down

Yes, I allowed ONE person to get
Her a doll. I HATE dolls though!

As we handed her her gifts (which she doesn't fully understand how to open them herself just yet so dad helped her mostly), she became so obsessed with each gift that she wouldn't care about the next one. Luckily this gave us time to open our own while she tried to play with whatever one she just opened so it was like for every gift she opened Larry and I would open a couple of our own haha. Gwen just hung out on the boppy pillow after I fed her her morning bottle. Unfortunately, that picture turned out so blurry :( but she was pretty chill just hanging out.

We got super spoiled this year! I keep joking that the girls don't need anything for like 3 years. They got tons of clothes, toys, learning kits, everything! We even got some awesome family gifts, like the Oculus Virtual Reality "goggles" and a double basketball hoop thing to put in the basement (because Larry talks about playing sports with the kids when they are older, so until then him and I can challenge each other haha). I had previously told Larry I just wanted a couple things from him and the rest of the stuff can be for the girls from my gift wish list for them because I was more excited for them to get gifts and I obviously wanted them to have as much from that list as possible. Well he listened and he got me the best gift ever: a tablet/computer that I wanted SO badly. I wanted this to help me keep my budget with me at all times (at work, home, traveling, etc. etc.) and to have anything else like that on a whim. He also got me a keyboard, cover, and stylus pen with it and I can't wait to put it to use. I already used it to Skype with mom today (you know, to say Merry Christmas and talk about what we got and how we spent the day). and it was so nice to be able to move around. It's AWESOME!!

One of my favorite things is we got a bunch of learning things for Cara (and eventually Gwen). Things to teach her colors, shapes, letters, words, etc. I've realized how much Cara is absorbing lately and I really want to focus this next year on teaching her and getting her ready for preschool in a couple years. I also love that most of it can be re-used with Gwen to teach her too. I'm going to love this next year!!

We ended up having so much fun that before I knew it, we had gotten to dinner time and I was sad to see how quickly the day went by. I mean maybe it was busier because we had Gwen so we had to feed her, change her, I had to pump, we had to eat, we had to clean up the mess, Cara was playing...it was just such a busy, crazy day. As great as the day has been and as happy as I am that we got so much, I'm really feeling we need to teach the girls more about how the day means more than gifts. I'm not a "minimalist", but I can see we don't need so many things if they aren't useful or meaningful to us. I almost can't wait for next year when both girls will be into the day and we can enjoy it even more and I can start the traditions I wanted to do this year (but missed out on) to show how much more the day can be about.

So Merry Christmas to everyone out there and Happy Holidays to those that don't celebrate Christmas specifically. We hope that everyone had such a great day and are as excited as we are to ring in a new year!