Our Christmas together as just our family is just now starting to come together. I know we have been married for almost 9 years now, but we really hadn't separated ourselves a whole lot from the families we grew up in until last year. So each year our traditons are evolving. We have chosen bits and pieces from each of our childhoods that we want to incorporate in our now household as well as added new things. One of those pieces from Tyrell's childhood that we have chosen to incorporate is opening one present on Christmas Eve. Koen and Kai have been counting down the days witha nativity calendar my mom gave us this year (this is a piece from my childhood that has given us the ability to discuss with the kids that Christmas is about giving and we celabrate because Christ was born on that day) and have been anxiously awaiting Christmas Eve for this very reason. Another piece from my childhood we have included is that each child draws a name of a sibling and then buys that sibling something for Christmas (this saves us money and teaches them how to give to someone else). On Christmas Eve we let them give their gifts to each other and those are the gifts they got to open.
Once we got the crazy kids to bed last night Santa got to work. Poor Santa will never bring another little tykes cozy coupe to our house because man that thing leaves battle wounds and poor Santa barely survived putting it together!
Now all the kids (minus Kael) got exactly what they asked for:
Koen: A DS
Havyn: A loopsy (lalaloopsy doll)
Kael: He didn't ask, but Santa is smart and you will see why.
In fact Havyn had asked so many people for a loopsy she ended up with 3!!! She now has a mommy loopsy, and little girl loopsy, and a little boy loopsy. She has taken every single loopsy to nap and bed and for a drive in Kael's coupe! The kids were all super happy and excited when they got woke up by their crazy daddy who was more excited that any kid I have ever seen on Christmas morning!
The rest of the day you saw Kael in his coupe with his flashlight from his stocking and that was really all he needed.
Koen hid out with his DS most of the day, but played with Kai and his castle and his new dry earse kit from Grandma Snyder a lot too!
Kai was really into that castle today, and sadly I didn't take pictures of him playing with it. Tyrell and I got presents this year too! Yay!!! I have to say that even though I didn't mind not getting present the past 4 years or so it was nice to be able to give him something more than a pillowcase I whipped up this year. Those years we didn't have a lot weren't bad or sad or whatever else some people may think they were. We were thinking about them today, and saying that we still had awesome memories and that honestly we still had our family and had wonderful Christmas experiences, but being able to set a budget and buy for each other this year was truly a blessing! Tyrell was the recipent of some bacon flavored chapstick in his stocking (just because it was funny) and a few new items of apparel he had been wanting. One being this beard hat. Havyn says he is a monster in it and cries, but he is in love with it!
He is also sporting some Sage Valley spirit with his new shirt that he designed and I ordered later (and told him the shipping would have been $10 so he figured he didn't get).
I got clothes (which is all I wanted) as well as something I want to add to our traditions for Christmas as our own family. Tyrell bought me an Elf on the Shelf. I was totally not expecting this because they are so expensive. I was super excited to say the least and I can't wait to use my elf next year. Oh the fun we will have!
I have to admit that I was somewhat sad this year. Every year we have been married we have had a least a visit from some family. This year was going to be different. As we laid in bed last night I told Tyrell how I was somewhat sad about being alone. His reply was "why? I am kind of excited!" You know he was right! This year was absolutely amazing! We played games, watched movies, and ate good food (yes, I even fixed Christmas dinner) and we just loved each other! I would have to say that this day with my family was much needed! We don't see a lot of daddy and sometimes it really gets to the us all. We are so glad that he is working so hard to support us, and that he loves us enough to put in the 60+ hours of work each and every week, but we miss him!!! It was a wonderful day to be me!
Here is a picture of Tyrell and I that I wanted to take because we also got a new camera! Thanks mom!!! Now don't get used to see me on here because this will be a rare thing, but here ya go!
