I feel like the holidays were a blur, but in the best possible way. It was so much fun to see Polly experience so many things on her own this year and my big girls were just as excited to see her open gifts as they were to open their own. We stayed close to home and enjoyed having Josh home with us for a few days (he’s always home, since he works there, but he rarely gets to take days off at the end of the year). We’ve celebrated Christmas here for the last three years, but this one felt the most like home.
In an effort to use up all of my almost empty rolls of wrapping paper, we had quite the assortment this year. I loved seeing the packages all piled up in different patterns, but I’m glad to have eliminated so much of my stash!
We decided this year to start a sister gift exchange and we gave each girl a $25-35 budget. We figure we’ll rotate who gifts who each year and they were so excited to shop for their sisters. I’ll share the video once I finish editing for December, but their reactions were the best! Sophie gave Polly a stuffed triceratops (thanks to an inside family joke), Polly gave Ella a Google Home Mini for her bedroom, and Ella gave Sophie a pair of checkered slip on Vans. We surprised them by letting them open gifts on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and I’ll never not look forward to that again.
Of course, Gran made us her famous cookies for Santa… and he did enjoy every bite!
Since we don’t currently have a mantle, our stockings hung down the hall this season, but I’m working on a fun way to hang them above the fireplace again next year. We missed seeing them near the tree.
The girls opened presents in a blur, but they were all so excited to see items from their wish list. Sophie’s big gift was a Chromebook and Ella had been begging for Lululemon leggings since New York. Polly got a new swing (that will eventually migrate to our front porch) and a baby doll, but my dad also restored the elephant rocker that he made for me when I was her age.
It didn’t take Polly long to figure out how to feed her baby and she’s been known to suck on her paci when no one is watching.
I hung all of our Christmas cards on the fridge this year, so we could see them every time we opened it. The washi tape did not love the texture of this 1987 refrigerator, but I’m hoping we’ll have a whole new kitchen before the next holiday season arrives.
For the few days after Christmas, we sat right here. We watched the entire Lost in Space series, the Madalorian and so many movies on Disney+. We rotated through all of our Christmas pajamas, put together countless puzzles, and made everyone’s favorite breakfast — every day.
This has, hands down, been our best year ever.
