Christmas this year

(best takes of the pajama shots)

(utilizing a modern phone app to follow Santa's progress)

(huddled around a newly published beauty of a classic)

(dressed for Christmas Day church meetings)

Truth be told, Christmas seemed off this year. Our decor has been up all month. The advent boxes were filled. But things still felt weird with no snow outside. And, things were emotionally draining with a lot of bad behavior and repeating discipline. A frustrating mix of trying to be jolly and wanting to put the punching kids into choke holds! Both Matt and I are glad to (yes already) have the tree packed away and the family room reclaimed.

That said, there were still many sweet moments when looking back at the overall. We kept things lowkey. Stuck around our place for both Christmas Eve and day, by choice! There was the setting out of Matt-purchased Oreos, the reading of new picturebooks, the pulling on of fresh jammies, the thoughtful presents in the morning, the excited hugs over sister-picked dollar-store selections, the eager visits from grandparents, the generations-old recipes and family biography from my parents. And perhaps best: the spontaneous round of literally wrestling the kids around the Christmas tree at the end of the night...followed by the solo hour sitting next to the lit tree when all wound down. As my happy guy below shows, we did alright getting the bases covered: Santa brought him the requested "reindeer" and we talked of Christ!

(good mix of reindeer charm and baby Jesus focus!)