Christmas Vacation

I can't believe we are well into January already!  Emily went back to school yesterday and I actually wasn't ready.  I liked our leisure mornings compared to the chaos of getting out of the door every morning by 8.  Madi is already missing playing with her sister every morning.  We packed our Christmas vacation will all sorts of fun and little bit of R&R.  Every now and then I totally need to veg on the couch and recover.  Speaking of being a couch potato I spent a day doing just that watching This Is Us.  If you haven't watched this series yet catch it On Demand immediately.  It's seriously the best!  Back to our fun we spent the holidays with lots of family time.  Christmas was a whirlwind but a blast.  Kevin took the week off after Christmas and he and Emily rode their momo's twice, we played tons of games at home; Pie Face is a clear favorite, and we spent time with family and close friends.

The clear highlight of Christmas vacation was Christmas of course.  It was kicked off with Christmas Eve morning.  Jingle left a farewell note along with a camera for Emily to capture all the fun during the festivities. Emily thought she was IT walking around with a real camera taking pictures for two days.  

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning I made the girls Santa pancakes.

Christmas Eve we went to mass and then to Kevin's grandparents for dinner and presents.

Our traditions on Christmas Eve include reading The Night Before Christmas sitting around the tree, putting out cookies, milk, and carrots, and sprinkling reindeer food in the front yard.

Christmas morning was so much fun this morning because both girls were really into it.  However, Madi didn't totally get the cookies and milk thing.  She said, "someone ate some cookie!"  She thought they were supposed to stay there for her I suppose.

Daddy got a bow and arrow for Emily and she was ecstatic.  She cracked me up when she got all ready to go to Grandma's.  She's dressed up like a doll, has her American Girl Doll backpack on, purse with lip gloss in it AND her bow and arrow.  Talk about a well rounded little girl.  This does totally sum her up- loves to be girly but can get down and dirty!

Christmas Day afternoon we went to my mom's to open gifts, eat dinner, and get in the spa.  It was such a relaxing end to our holiday.

The girls got a teepee and Emily was dying to have a camp out so one night she and Lea spent the night in the teepee with their matching sleeping bags.

Gifts and playtime with the Serpa's was so much fun!  These girls have years of trouble ahead of them.

We played several rounds of Pie Face over vacation.  We enjoy many laughs.

It wouldn't be vacation without a little trip to Donut Fantasy and then a breakfast picnic at home.

We also did gifts with my sister and nieces and played games.  It was so much fun!

One night we rented a movie and the girls had a slumber party in the living room.  They didn't fall asleep till late and woke us up at 2 am because they wanted to move to their room.  Guess we will be waiting awhile until the next slumber party.

I missed taking a few photos of visiting with my brother and his family along with gift exchange with Uncle Mike and Auntie Brittany.

I am so thrilled we got so much quality time with friends and family over vacation.  That is what really matters to us and there's no gift as great as spending time together.
Hoping you had a blessed break as well and cheers to a new year!