Christmas 2018 is done and gone so I thought I'd pop-in and recap while its still fresh on my mind!
This year we had my in-laws and Josh's grandma over early for Christmas with them on Saturday. I also got to babysit my sweet niece, Adalynn!
And as always- Lubby brought a Christmas Craft for the kiddos!
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Christmas Eve, we drove to Spring to my SIL's house and spent the day, eating, swimming (only in Texas, haha! It helps A LOT when the pool is heated.), playing Cards Against Humanity, and taking ridiculous pictures in our new matching PJ's from Aunt Sarah!
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THEN.... finally Santa came!
CJ got a water-proof Go-Pro Camera.
Raigen got an Ipod Touch
Rilyn got a Sony Camera set. This was NUMBER ONE on her Santa list since she wants to get into photography.
And Ryker got a GIANT dump truck!
The kids and especially Ryker were so excited for Santa to come this year!
We love the joy and excitement of the season. But Santa doesn’t leave the moon under our tree (or spread across our living room), and I wanted to take a minute explain why.
When Josh and I had kids, we had a talk with Santa and decided he only brings one gift for each kid and a stocking full of small gifts and candy. We (mom & dad) give each kid between 10-15 gifts each under the tree. (And we always make sure each kid has the same amount!)
Why doesn’t Santa bring a bunch of stuff?
Because Santa has millions of kids to buy for around the world, and his sleigh, while super magical, can only hold so much. Plus, Santa doesn’t like making differences amongst kids. He doesn’t like to bring one an iPad, trampoline and Xbox and one just candy.
And plus, he’s always watching, so he knows kids talk.
I don’t ever want another child to feel like less because our kids got 75 gifts from Santa and another child didn’t.
Those who believe in Santa should feel all the magic of the season, and not feel like they are somehow less because Santa didn’t leave as much under the tree.
As parents, it’s our job to manage our children’s expectations, not just for the holidays, but for life, too. If you want to buy your kids tons big gifts (and that’s cool—we do!), then give the gifts to your kids yourself.
Santa doesn’t have to leave a ton under the tree for Christmas to be magical and full of wonder.
Speaking of magical- our elf, Holly, left a special note
AND
A SCAVENGER HUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CLUE #1
When they turned the pages over and pieced them together the message read:
LOOK IN THE COUCH!
CLUE #2
I have a video, but not photo, sorry! This one was super comical though! CJ danced and the girls sang. And of course Ryker slept through the entire scavenger hunt because it was 1:30AM!
CLUE #3
CLUE #4
CLUE #6
CLUE #7
CLUE #8
CLUE #9
Bet my parents weren't expecting they would be doing this scavenger hunt at 1:30 AM! :)
CLUE #10
Annnnnd it was hidden in my car! :)
Here was the last message from Holly.....
We always give the kids a family gift every year and this was a fun way to do that! The kids LOVED the scavenger hunt!
Later that morning when they sun came up--- this little precious dude woke up too!
Seeing his light up was the highlight of all of our Christmas!
He had to ride to Mimi and Pops house to show them his dump truck and of course they had to give him his bike! :)
And later Christmas morning we exchanged gifts with my family.
And that wraps up our Christmas festivities for 2018!
Bring on 2019!
