Takes the Cake {Merry Christmas!}
Every year, we have a crazy Christmas, because we get at least four different ones. This year was unbelievable. It totally takes the cake. (Did someone say cake?)
My Christmas started out with Britney Spears tickets for the following Saturday (whatttt?!). When I first heard that she was coming here, I knew that I had to be at one of her very first shows. She's been my absolute favorite since I was twelve. I remember getting a cassette tape in the mail with three different samples of new songs that were coming out. I played Hit Me Baby One More Time over and over and over again. I've been her biggest fan ever since. Finally getting tickets to see her made my entire Christmas...but there was much more to come.
We started off the celebration at my mom's house on Christmas Eve. She always makes a delicious prime rib dinner that we were so looking forward to. My sister Allison and her boyfriend Alex made the trip in from Ohio to spend the week with us, as well. Just another little element to make Christmas beyond perfect this year.
Grace helped me make some Santa hat fruit kabobs to snack on before dinner, while Geni made a cute little gingerbread house. Grace also helped her by eating all of the candy as she was putting it on the house.
We hung out watching movies and playing corn hole outside while dinner cooked. It was so much fun to spend time together as a family.
Once dinner was ready, we all sat down and enjoyed a delicious meal together with Uncle Werner, Aunt Sylvia, and cousin Mallory. It was nice to have them join us this year, too.
Next up was presents. It's so different nowadays from when we were kids. We used to be so excited to open our own presents to see what we got. Now, we are all excited to watch everyone else open the gifts we picked out for them. The kids had the most fun. After opening their new Frozen dolls, dresses, and iPad minis (Yup! They're beyond spoiled.), they had fun eating popcorn and helping everyone else open gifts. Grace didn't quite understand that she got her own iPad at first. My mom said, "now you can FaceTime Grammy every night!". Grace responded, "someday, when I grow up, I can get my own iPad." Grammy replied, "Ummm...you just did. You don't have to grow up!"
After presents, Charley ate a mini Nothing Bundt Cake, and then we had to make our way home. We still had to get ready for Santa after all.
The girls were exhausted from their busy day, so they went to bed pretty quickly. It was a good thing, too, because we still had to put their kitchen together! The instructions online said three hours, but we figured it would be a lot quicker with our genius brains and an electric drill. We started around 10:30, and Isaac timed us on his phone - three hours and forty seconds later, we were finally done.
Being as busy as we are, we totally forgot about Santa's milk and cookies. Oops. Maybe he'll get rewarded extra next year for all of his hard work. Finally, we were able to go to bed after Santa had finished wrapping and delivering all of his other gifts.
Christmas morning, the girls woke up and headed out into the living room. They were so cute in their matching gingerbread jammies.
They were so excited and ran straight for the kitchen. Santa even gave them frilly aprons with matching chef hats with their names on them. They whipped up breakfast before moving on to their other gifts.
Daddy got and awesome new Bears jacket. It looks like a sweatshirt on the outside, but the inside is lined and super warm. Good job, Santa!
Grace face fell in love with the coolest vest that Papa Craig picked out for her. She also loved her new microphone from Charley and had to play Let It Go on her iPad and perform it for us.
Charley was just happy to watch a movie on her iPad while the rest of us opened presents. She didn't like unwrapping them, but as soon as we'd show one to her, she'd want it out of the box and put together to play with.
Isaac totally surprised me with the most beautiful diamond earrings to go with my necklace that he got me for Valentine's Day. I was shocked. They're so gorgeous!
Once we were finished opening everything, we spent a couple of hours playing with all of the new toys the girls got. Then we all got ready to go to Grandpa and Grandma Espejo's to celebrate.
When we got there, we had our traditional homemade enchilada lunch...so good.
Then, we all opened presents. In usual Charley fashion, she wanted hers out of the box immediately.
Daddy can't say no to those baby eyes.
Grace had fun playing basketball with Aunt Elisha and Uncle Elijah on their new basketball hoop.
Charley decided to take a nap, while Grace and Presley had a picnic with Auntie Elisha at their new table.
We finally made our way home to clean up, relax, and enjoy the rest of our day. We made a quick stop over at the Sebastians to exchange gifts and say "Merry Christmas".
The following night we celebrated at my Poppa and Grandma's with Dad and Ellie. Grace got an Easy Bake Oven, Charley got the cutest baby play set, and Poppa had these sweet chairs made for the girls to use when they go over there on Fridays.
We had the most amazing Christmas ever. Not only because everyone got everything and anything they could possibly imagine, but also because we were able to spend time with every single one of our families. We had so much fun with each of them this year. Thank you all for being such blessings in our lives. We are so lucky to have each of you here to spend these holidays with and make such amazing memories together. I never imagined just how much fun Christmas would be with two little girls to share it all with. They really do steal my heart with every little word and smile.
Hope you all had an amazing time with your families, as well.
Merry Christmas!
