I am happy to say that even though my girls are older now, they have not lost their love and enthusiasm for Christmas. We had fun watching some great old movies to put us in the proper mood for the season. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Home Alone provided us some great family fun time that was filled with silly laughter! We watched both movies from the stylish comfort of our new sectional which replaced the old, comfy blue couch. I have actually missed that couch a lot... that is until I saw this picture of it and laughed about how worn it had become. It has been an adjustment, but now I am happy to say that the new couch is definitely an improvement!
Due to illnesses, we were not able to visit my parents' home this year on Christmas Eve and that was hard for us. Spending time at the Thomas house has been a favorite tradition for our family the night before Christmas. We usually exchange gifts (jammies and books, our favorite!) and after hours of quality time we would drive home, past what we have dubbed "Christmas Street", which is a street that is lined with houses on both sides that are unusually decked out for Christmas. We tried a drive-by after Thanksgiving, but very few houses were lit up then. Unfortunately, we missed out on that tradition this year and instead opted for a quiet evening at home, opening Christmas jammies and settling in to watch a family movie.
I could tell that the girls still have their childhood excitement for Christmas because they were giggling and making noise well into the wee hours of the morning. Even though I could hear them, they behaved and kept to the two basement rooms.. another tradition they have of holding "sleep overs" in each other's bedrooms on Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning I received an early phone call. I sleepily reached over and answered the phone on the 2nd ring. I laughed when I heard that the voice on the phone belonged to Abby. We were being summoned. They were awake and wanted us to get up with them so we could enjoy the surprise on their sleepy faces as they opened Christmas presents and saw what Santa left for them.
I never get tired of these adorable Christmas morning photos. Sleepy looks of surprise and excitement are my favorite!
It wasn't an extravagant year at our house, but the gifts were nice and very thoughtful. My girls are so kind and generous, surprising me with gifts that I didn't know they had purchased for me. Even now it chokes me up. These girls of mine are so special!
We had another gift later that day in the form of a visit from my parents. We really missed seeing them and it was fun that they took the time to come over before they went to Grandpa Robinson's house. My mom didn't bring gifts.. she brought treasures. I could not help the tears that fell as I opened a box containing a teacup and saucer that belonged to my Grandma Robinson. I know that I will always treasure that link to Grandma.
One of our favorite moments of the day was one that we refer to as "cheese." I gave each of my girls and my mom a pearl necklace. I told my girls that family is a gift more precious than anything else and that I wanted them to always know how special they are to me. I told them that I wanted to give them something nice that they could pass on to their own children one day and I hoped that they would enjoy having real pearls. I love the unity of sharing something precious with my girls and my mom. Definitely something that I hope we will all treasure.
But the absolute best part of my day was watching the video montage my girls made for me that was set to Josh Groban's "Believe" .. I broke into tears the second the music started, and as I watched slide after slide of my family the tears just kept coming. I am so touched that they would do that for me! If I can figure out how to get it past the You Tube copyright censors then I will post a link of it here. It is absolutely magical and I have never, ever been given a gift more valuable!
The days after Christmas have been filled with laughter, games and time spent together. The girls and I have enjoyed watching the chick flicks that they got as gifts and we have laughed ourselves sick playing games at the table. I can feel the vacation slipping away and I don't like that. I cherish time spent with my family and this holiday has been filled with many moments that will forever be the best of memories!
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