Christmas 2022

We had a really nice Christmas with our little family. It was a bitterly, dangerously cold holiday weekend with windchills in the -30s. So we were cooped up for the weekend. We were all very happy to have somewhere to go on Christmas Eve! Paul and I went to mass at 4pm and Phil stayed back with Will - he’s so hard to contain that I knew we’d get more out of mass if he stayed back with daddy! After mass, we picked up daddy and Will and headed to Phil’s cousins for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. My MIL was supposed to come to our house on Saturday and spend the weekend with us but she had a bad cold and wasn’t feeling well enough to be out and about. :( Terrible timing to feel awful! 

We go to this gathering every year and have the best time! Phil’s mom is a widow with no living siblings so we are all she has - hence the reason we stay home at Christmas. But the children of Phil’s uncle (who also has passed - all of Phil's dad’s siblings have passed away sadly) always include us in their Christmas Eve celebration. Phil is quite a bit younger than his cousins - all the cousin’s kids are in college or older!! So our young kids are quite a novelty and get a TON of attention as a result - and lots of presents, too. I love the way this party is set up - the hosts have a bunch of snacky things and food in crockpots so people can just graze. And then they have a huge cookie decorating area, which we didn’t partake in this year since we were keeping an eye on the boys. We stayed until 8:15 which is pretty late for Will, but all the toys and attention kept them from getting tired!

The couple that hosts are going to be epic grandparents when their kids hit that stage of life. They are so completely obsessed with our kids. And we have an extra special bond with them as they are Will's Godparents. 

Will was up around 6:15 on Christmas Day and Paul slept until 6:45! Not bad all in all. The boys enjoyed donuts for breakfast. 

Then it was time to dig into their Santa presents. 

The Lego set was Paul’s favorite gift! 

That was the extent of presents since they got their nugget play couch from us in early December. Usually they would have 10+ gifts from my MIL to open. I was a little worried the gifts might seem sparse to Paul but he was thrilled! Lesson learned - kids, at least at this age, don’t have high expectations to meet. 

Putting one of the lego sets together later that day. I am loving the lego stage!!!

Phil made his signature dish for lunch - Spanish Tortilla which is a dish he ate a lot of when studying abroad in Spain. We had our big meal at dinner time - ham, mashed potatoes, gravy and asparagus (And yes, that means we have ham and potatoes for both meals!). The boys would only eat the ham, go figure. 

 

But us adults enjoyed a delicious meal. Few things make me feel more like an adult than making gravy! Ha! And yes, I enjoyed a generous amount of gravy since we only eat it a couple of times a year! 

We had the 26th off so had one more day at home together. My MIL was feeling better so Phil and Paul went out to see her and I stayed home with Will. The highlight of the day was taking him to Target. We walked down every aisle of the toy department and he had so much fun making dinosaur noises and pointing out trucks and balls and such!

Today Phil and I are both back in the office and the kids are back in daycare. We had a wonderful family weekend but I was admittedly very happy to return to a quiet workplace today! 

How was your weekend?