Our own little Christmas Day.

We'll be traveling to Utah for Christmas. We're still trying to figure out how to make Christmas-away-from-home work in the coming years. Because, as much as I like being in Utah with family, I like to wake up with my kids in our own home on Christmas morning. Maybe I'll have to start convincing family to come to us. But anyway, no need to look so far ahead right now. This year, this is what worked. I didn't want to pack all the gifts to Utah, just to repack them (plus more) to bring home. Plus, the kids got a couple things that I'm hoping will keep them entertained on the drive.

So Sunday the 15th was Christmas for us, and we really enjoyed it! Paul and I commented that it's nice to have the gift stuff done, but still have Christmasy stuff to look forward to. 

On "Christmas Eve" we went to Rick's Drive-in for dinner because its always done up all festive. 

After dinner we made cookies for Santa. 

Paul text Santa before bedtime (ahem, his dad, ahem) to see if Garrett could remind him that we were hoping he would come early this year. Garrett had a great time talking to Santa. Addie on the other hand loves saying that she sat on his lap, hugged him, talked to him, etc.) but when it comes to actually doing it, she'll pass. 

We're simplifying Christmases around here and budgeting, and I think it's a good thing. We're doing 5 gifts each: Want, Need, Wear, Read. And the one I added, Homemade. 

For "want" they both got Leap Frog electronic devices. They never said they "wanted" those. But they want our phones and iPads way too often, so we did some research and picked what we thought would be fun and educational. 

For "need" they both got footie pajamas. It could have worked for wear too. But they really needed jammies. 

For "wear" they got long pants and fleece pullovers. We're not very Utah ready, so we got a warm outfit for them. 

For "read" we got Disney look and find books. Can't really read them, but G got one for his birthday and they both love it. It's like Where's Waldo, but you find more things on each page.

And for "homemade" I refinished my

old dollhouse for Addie, and bought IKEA blocks and painted them for Garrett. A's was more work and a bigger deal, but as I predicted, they both love both gifts and share pretty well so far. 

We did stockings as well. But those were pretty practical too. Underwear, socks, tooth brushes. And a few fun little things that are probably broken now. As they were opening, I realized it was pretty boring because the Leap Frogs weren't hooked up yet, so there was nothing really to play with as they opened. But they're happy now. 

Here are the before and after pictures of the homemade gifts. 

I made a festive breakfast that morning too. I took everyone's suggestions and granted all the requests. It was like IHOP in my kitchen. 

I made: pancakes with whip cream and blueberries, bacon, eggs, hash browns, hot chocolate with whip cream and sprinkles, bananas and strawberries shaped like a candy cane, tangerine snowmen, and we had sparkling grape juice and orange juice too.

It was a fun day. And it's fun that we still have a vacation and actual Christmas to look forward to.