christmas 2018

Finally, our Christmas!!! I’m always sad when this special day is over, so to be able to relive it a little through photographs is such a blessing. Christmas mornings with our little girls will forever be some of my favorite memories.

As usual, we spent our Christmas Eve wrapping presents (with A Christmas Story on in the background)! I was able to wrap most of Kaya’s before Eve woke up and needed me to hold her. Michael is the best and finished the rest. We kept the number of gifts at three for each of the older girls, which was simpler, but plenty. With all these kids, it still looks like a lot under the tree!To our surprise, everyone slept in until about 8:30 on Christmas morning! Even Evie gave us a 6-hour stretch of sleep, which was a pretty great gift. We could hear Kaya and Kaelyn excitedly telling the stuffed animals they had received last Christmas that it was now “their first birthday!” We thought that was pretty funny and adorable.

Happy First Christmas, Eve!They came down, and I just couldn’t wait to see their faces! They indulged me and let me take a picture of them all together before they dug into the gifts (clearly, Nella had a hard time waiting)!Four pretty babies in polka dot pajamas. All I could want.Kaya and Kaelyn got these Fingerlings unicorns! Kaya has wanted one of these forever, and upon opening it, she exclaimed, “My friend is here!”Eve just sat happily amidst the chaos.Nella’s Fingerling was a dragon (named “Tara”)!They each received a candy cane full of M&Ms. Nella looked worried about hers for some reason…Wallets (with zippers so we won’t lose any more allowance)!Kaya and Kaelyn had been waiting for this gift for almost a year… “American Girl” (full disclosure: Target brand) dolls! Eve really wanted to help open this one!                            “Jovie” and “Olivia”!This was definitely one of my favorite moments… Nella’s reaction when she opened her doll! She was surprised and so happy.This baby girl absolutely loves babies. She’s so sweet.
She also really loves her shoes!An extra outfit for their dolls……and then their last, very exciting, gift!Hatchimals!We decided Nella was too little for a Hatchimal, so instead… …she got a Furreal Friends Tiger! I saw him on sale, and he was way too cute to pass up. She wasn’t sure about him at first.She quickly warmed up to him, though!“ROAR!”Her doll had to meet her tiger, obviously. While we were in Spain, the girls went shopping with Grandma Gina and picked out some presents for Eve and I. Kaelyn was so excited to help Eve open hers.A book!Kaya also made sweet cards and notes for everyone! The girls also surprised me with some holiday socks, and my Auntie Joyce sent me a silver Viking ship necklace to replace the one I had lost a few years ago.Keys and an O-ball for Eve! We surprised them with one more shared gift… A Calico Critters house!The gift-opening aftermath.Nella had some more fun playing with Tigey… …while I finally whipped up some breakfast. They girls always look forward to something a little special, so I made homemade chocolate donuts with glaze and then decorated them to look like reindeer. Easy and adorable.They were a hit! All month long, the girls pretend to “call the North Pole” on this toy radio. Kaelyn had the last turn on Christmas Day!I love them. After breakfast, we opened the Hatchimals!It took forever for Kaelyn’s to finally come out (and we had to help it a little in the end), but she was so excited when it finally did! It was a “mystery” one, so we didn’t know which color was inside before hatching it. She was happy with her pink and yellow owl and named her “Grace”.Kaya just happened to get the same exact one (which is really a good thing), and named hers “Rosie”!Meanwhile, Nella carried her Tiger all over the house. In the midst of all this, I was attempting to cook a turkey that hadn’t thawed out at all. It was still FROZEN! The good news is, you can actually still cook a frozen bird, it just takes longer. We ate dinner really late, but it was delicious nonetheless.Someone was spoiled, sitting up on the counter, in such close proximity to the M&Ms…Official turkey carver!After a day full of playing, we finally enjoyed our dinner. The girls were so exhausted at the end of it all, and very much ready for bed. I ended my night with a tacky Christmas movie, contented and so grateful for this precious day with my family.