Christmas 2013

I had thought about back tracking all the way to Halloween, but I've decided it's an insurmountable effort. So, I'll just start with something slightly more recent. Christmas!

This year we made the usual rounds for Christmas...my family, Matt's family, more of my family, and some more of Matt's family.

We spread out the celebrating this year, and cut down on our traveling to and from, and it made for a nice relaxing few days with family. It was nearly perfect.

We've really struggled recently with the awareness that mostly our celebrations of things have become more 'us-centered' and less 'Christ-centered.' I think this year our hearts were much more full this season with more constant reminders to ourselves and to Abbott and Laurelei about the true importance of Christmas. Our church shared the book, The Sparkle Box, this year and I love the idea behind it.

Giving a gift back to God each Christmas through selfless acts and the way that you treat those around you. I hope that as a family we can follow the model this book gives throughout this year for next Christmas. I think that giving a gift like that would just be icing on the cake, and make for a truly perfect celebration next year!

Christmas

If I had one picture to sum up our Christmas this year, it would be this...

 Each year we begin our Christmas season nailing down plans. With two very close families and lots of extended relatives, we have so many loved ones we want to see and celebrate the season with. Often times it ends of being a compromise for Matt, me, or both of us, and we don't always get to see everyone. This year, for many reasons, we decided we would try and do it all! That meant 4 Christmases on Christmas Eve, and 3 Christmases on Christmas day. I know, right? I think that as much as we knew it was going to be too much for us all, the universe did too. And what was about to be our busiest Christmas ever just ended up being our sickiest Christmas to date.

Between Laurelei, Abbott, and myself, we spent 7 days with at least one high fever in the house. Both Laurelei and I were out of it on Christmas day. It has been a long time since I have had a fever of 103, and it knocked me out! I think the saddest part of the experience was when Laurelei decided she felt to poorly to open presents.

Despite all the yuck, we still had a great time. We cut back on our travels, and got to nap at home on Christmas day for the first time in years. I didn't even have to change out of my pj's all day, which was a total win!

The kids were so grateful and loved everything they opened. Laurelei is particularly fond of her new 'ipad' as she calls it. Really, it's just a Leap Pad, but having her very own tablet is like the coolest thing ever to her! It was money well spent.

 Abbott mostly enjoyed the food and chocolate. He was a sticky mess all day!

Matt and I are so blessed to have such wonderful families. We got to celebrate with all of our immediate family, and they were so helpful and understanding through all of the sickness! We are spoiled to say the least! Here is a peak at the fun we had with each of our families!

While we will certainly remember this Christmas for many not so great reasons, I am so thankful for another wonderful year with our families. And most importantly, another beautiful winter day to remember God's love for us!

Happy Christmas!

Our Christmas

We soaked up as much Christmas as possible around here before the big event.

Each free night we had at home was spent around the Christmas tree, kissing on babies and talking about Santa and Jesus' birthday.

We even took L to see Santa so she could tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She was very specific. All she wanted was a pink baby doll. We heard about it for weeks. Santa was going to bring her a pink baby doll, she was so excited.

We put on our Christmas eve jammies, went to the Christmas eve service, and hurried home to be tucked into bed, waiting for Santa to come.

 

And come he did.  He was pretty sneaky, bringing in that big table and chairs for L and sitting her baby doll at her new table. Everything was laid out just right for Christmas morning. Just perfect, except...

 

When L woke up she wouldn't get out of bed. We tried to get her to come out and see what Santa had brought. She was so confused, which I am sure was our fault because she thought he was coming to our house and she was going to see him. She kept telling us that he was going to meet her at the front door with her new Christmas baby. We finally convinced her to come see if Santa had already come, but she couldn't see her pink baby doll on the chair. She kept telling Matt and I, "Santa forgot, hims supposed to bring me a pink baby doll. Him's forgot mommy. I need to go back to sleep so hims can bring me a pink baby doll." She was heart broken. After all, she saw him twice and that is all she asked for.

She finally saw it and it was pure joy from then on. Every little present she opened brought a bigger smile to her face. 

 She is such a fun age and we had such a good morning. With all of the craziness during the Christmas holiday, we love spending these few hours at home, as a little family of four, experiencing all this joy together. Laurelei was a little tired and eventually started to get a little cranky, as is probably typical for an exhausted 3 year old, but for the first little bit it was perfect.

 And let me not forget, it was Abbott's first Christmas too!

This is what he did most of the time. Sleep. We let him sleep in while Laurelei came out and opened her stocking. When he did wake up we brought him out to see what Santa had brought him.

He loved his new little puppy dog. It was just his size. It received some pretty good snuggles right off the bat. 

 

He enjoyed his new toys for a quick minute, before returning to his activity of choice.

It was a perfect morning. Seeing your babies happy is just such a gift. I loved slowing down for just a couple of hours and soaking it all in with Matt. We are so blessed this year. 

 

Hoping you had the very best of Christmases as well!

Family Christmas

Matt and I are very blessed to come from some very close and loving families. It always makes for a busy Christmas season, but we love it! This year we celebrated 4 Christmas' outside of our own Christmas at home, and all in two days. Whew! (And can you believe that is down from the 6 we usually attend!?) We had such a wonderful Christmas. We are so very blessed this year!

The Burlew Family Christmas

We spent the night at Matt's parents house on the 23rd and woke up together on Christmas eve to celebrate as a family. It was the first time we were all under one roof overnight and we had a lot of fun! The little ones went to bed without too much trouble and the adults stayed up to play cards into the night. When we woke up we had a big breakfast and enjoyed opening presents. It was kind of hilarious though, after all the presents had been opened. We have three kids very close in age, 4,3, and 2. Despite the fact that they had many similar presents, there was a lot of tattling, crying, and not a lot of sharing going on! We are attributing this much to the fact that they were very tired by that point, having not had the best night sleep. There was a lot of refereeing going on, but it was fun nonetheless!

The Yeary Family Christmas

We headed to my parents house after celebrating all day with Matt's family for my step father's family Christmas. We always have a blast eating the yummiest dinner and catching up. We do a tacky ornament exchange that is always hilarious before we open presents. Mamaw and papaw were sure to spoil Laurelei and Abbott as they always have the rest of the grandkids, and Laurelei was in heaven opening all of her presents! She was particularly excited about some fun princess dress up items. She received her first pair of clip on earrings and wore them all night, even with her jammies. She kept asking everyone if they liked her pretty rings and smiling so sweetly. It was priceless! After desert we all went to the Christmas Eve service that I've gone to for years with my family. It was really sweet to experience that with Laurelei and Abbott in tow. I appreciated sitting with my whole family and remembering the whole purpose of Christmas. It was perfect!

Christmas morning with my family

After we open presents as a little family of four on Christmas morning, we always travel to my parents house again to open presents with them. Harrison and Jackson are still in highschool which makes me always want to spend Christmas morning with them. Eventually things will change and we won't all be able to be together on Christmas morning, but while they are there, I want to be there too! My sister Lindsey got lots of cuddling time in with Abbott too. My mom always makes Christmas so very special for all of us, and this year was no exception! I was pretty proud that our gift to her almost made her cry too! We are so blessed. After presents we had a wonderful brunch, I love all the Christmas traditions!

The Elkins Family Christmas

We were lucky this year to celebrate Christmas day with my dad and his family in Cincinnati. Our Aunt Susan and her family came to dad's as well as my grandparents. It has been many, many years since we were able to spend Christmas day with any of them, so it was very special. Lindsey, Harrison, Me, Matt, Laurelei and Abbott all piled into one car and made the trip together. We had a great time with many laughs as a family. It was a great end to a perfect Christmas weekend!

Somewhere in the middle of all the fun Matt and I were able to celebrate Christmas with our babies here at home. I think Laurelei's complete joy and Abbott's first Christmas deserve there own post, so I'll share all of those details soon! Hope you Christmas was extra special and tons of fun for you too!

Christmas around our house

I am always anxious to decorate for Christmas each year! I usually head straight for the cutesy Christmas stuff, all bows and ruffles, but I want something a little different this year. This picture is from our front door wreath from last year, which I still might just pop back on the front door anyway!

This year I wanted more of a rustic, homemade feel around our house. I went with a combo of paper crafts, pine cones and branches, and a little pop of red to change things up a bit. So far I am really happy with what we have come up with!

Our coffee table centerpiece is low fuss and in one of my all-time favorite goodwill finds!

 I love our three window wreaths, a Pinterest idea.

 These pillows were another Pinterest idea from a few weeks ago! They didn't turn out quite as well as I'd planned, but I am happy with the little linen pillows. I just used iron-on transfer paper to recreate this favorite pin!

 I picked this polar bear up at HomeGoods, and I love it! Polar bears are my favorite, and he brings a different little kick to things. 

Matt and I bought our stockings the year we spent living abroad in Edinburgh. When Laurelei was born we lucked out and found a similar 'old-school' stocking at Joseph Beth. Now, we are on the hunt for Abbott's perfect mismatch too! If you see any, let us know!

 Yet another Pinterest christmas project. I'm not overly excited about how this turned out either, but I'll take it! It adorns our farm house dining room table for now. 

This little ribbon tree is something I made last year, and I still really like it. It's a surprising little find on our living room bookshelf!

And of course, last but not least, our Christmas tree.

I've decided it's pretty much impossible to get a good picture of a Christmas tree. But you get the gist. This year we added letter garland and paper stars to our tree, alluding to the homemade feel around here. I really like it, even if it is a bit unorthodox!

I am pretty happy with all of our changes around here this year. If you are interested in what we did for Christmas last year, here is last years post.You can check out my Pinterest holiday board to see where I got a lot of my ideas this year!

Happy Holiday Decorating!!

Christmas time is...here?

I am one of those people who like to celebrate the Christmas season as soon as socially acceptable. Okay, well maybe even before it's truly accepted by all, but I'm okay with that. I keep trying to convince Matt that it's okay too. I mean, the way I see it, if you really do think Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, why not take two month instead of one to celebrate it?

Anyway, if you follow me on pinterest it is probably no surprise that I feel this way, seeing as how I am mostly pinning holiday cheer right about now. Here are some of my favorite finds that I am just loving so far (from a very, very long list!)

 

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I am planning on trying all of these things in similar ways this holiday season! I will have to come back with an update if I am able to be as productive as my ambitions this holiday season. I mean, even if I can't officially start decorating yet, I can at least prepare the decorations right? :)

One more thing I am loving today, besides the holiday m&m's I bought at the grocery store? This sweet picture from a sneak peak of some family photos we had taken by a friend. Didn't Jackie do a great job with this one? I am loving it!! I can't wait to see the full resolution files and all the rest of them!

Happy Wednesday!