Before Christmas, we spent some time decorating gingerbread houses, decorating cookies, wrapping presents and baking cookies. Mario had the week before Christmas off and his parents were in town, and we had a lot of fun doing Christmas activities. The kids, especially, enjoyed decorating gingerbread houses and decorating cookies. Miriam went grocery shopping with me to pick out candy for the gingerbread houses, and we came home with some interesting picks: candy corn, glitter icing, chocolate covered raisins, and licorice bites. Luckily we weren't planning on having anyone eat the gingerbread houses, because Miriam would put on a piece of candy, lick off her fingers, then put on another piece of candy. And she covered every inch of every side of her gingerbread house, so she went through a lot of candy. After two sides, Mathias abandoned actually putting candy on his gingerbread house, and instead starting scraping icing off with his finger and eating it.
When we were decorating cookies, they both loved to spread frosting on the cookies and then cover the entire cookie in sprinkles. Mathias always put a huge glob of frosting in the middle, while Miriam spreads frosting all the way to the edges of each cookie. It is so much fun to see them enjoying Christmas traditions and having fun with them!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were both busy but fun days. On Christmas Eve, Mathias had a run in with a stocking hanger and ended up at the doctor's office. Thankfully, he was ok, but we took it easy after that. The night of Christmas eve, we dressed up in our nice clothes to take pictures, and snacked on appetizers and cookies. The kids got to open several (pre-determined) presents, including slippers, Christmas PJs, and sleeping bags. Before bed, they left out cookies and milk for Santa (with a reminder from Miriam "last year, Santa left a cookie for me to eat!")
On Christmas Day, we had a late breakfast while we opened stockings and presents. Our family and friends are all very generous, and we got some wonderful gifts this year. The rest of the day was spent playing with presents, watching Christmas movies, and getting ready for Christmas dinner. The kids had a blast, but were definitely tired and a bit cranky by the end of the day. However, we had a couple days to rest and relax after Christmas, so the kids had some time to play with presents, rest up and catch up on attention from us. Christmas was a lot of fun this year, with the kids being old enough to really enjoy it and take part in Christmas activities, and the chance to decorate and celebrate in our new house.
Here are pictures of our Christmas:
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| Stirring the brine for Mario's smoked turkey |
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