Christmas Day 2018

These are the faces I want to remember from Christmas morning:

Andrew's list is always the most tricky to shop for, because he has no idea how much things cost that he's asking for. The main thing he asked for consistently for months, though, was Minecraft for XBox. That was easy!

Abi never has really specific wishes but she does love Pikmi Pops & Hatchimals and anything that is a surprise within a surprise!

Leah didn't even ask for anything huge this year. A babysitter Barbie, Babysitter's Club books, and several smaller things. 

Jacob doesn't have specific requests yet either. He's into dinosaurs and blocks and things that go. He was definitely into Christmas this year and knew exactly what to do with his presents!

They always get tons of gifts from Aunt Karen & Nana & Papaw and Grandma & Grandpa too!

Just look at that stash! No floor to be seen...

M&M's was one of the things that Jacob told everyone he got for Christmas. Maybe because it was one of the last things he opened. Maybe because he really likes them.

I love the gentle hum of play on Christmas Day-- no worries or cares, just opening new stuff and discovering new fun! 

And what other time can a superhero, a princess, and a dinosaur have dinner together? :)

And now presenting our annual Cody family Christmas photo session, taken before our Christmas Eve service:

Christmas Traditions Old & New

Each year we enjoy certain special celebrations as a family leading up to Christmas. Although this year was more relaxing and less "busy" than usual, we still got in all our usual traditions, plus a few new ones.

We usually see Santa the first weekend in December after he rides into town on a firetruck. It's always pretty busy, then, though, and too long to wait. So we still saw him ride into town, we caught a ride on a horse-drawn carriage around town, saw a model train set at a local museum, and then went to the church's cookie decorating day.

Jacob loved the model train set. It fills a whole room and has lots of working parts.

So we instead saw Santa the next weekend, at the local movie theater. They showed a couple Christmas movies for free. We missed the ones on the big screen, but still got to see them in a smaller theater in a cafe. We saw the Grinch and Charlie Brown's Christmas. We had snacks, and then we saw Santa. It was quick and uneventful. No one cried, but Jacob didn't want to sit with him or really even go near him.

Another tradition is gingerbread house decorating. We waited till closer to Christmas this year so there weren't as many options to buy at the store. We ended up inadvertently purchasing one that was pre-assembled, which actually turned out to be so much easier. The kids can never put those things together anyway, and they got to skip straight to the fun part, with the candy. They all took turns decorating and eating a lot of candy. They had a lot of fun and it turned out really cute. It didn't really taste good after all was said and done, but that isn't the important part, I guess.

A new tradition we made adapted this year was watching the Polar Express in new Christmas jammies. They usually watch the movie, but this year I got them all new pajamas (well, Jacob already had an old pair, and the ones I got Abi didn't fit, so she also wore an old pair). Then they got to open one gift that was from their Aunts and Uncles in Texas.

We also enjoy going caroling with the kids from AWANA and some other church friends on a Wednesday night. We go to three local nursing homes and sing a few songs, give them some cookie tins and then go back to the church for dinner together. The kids love picking out their favorite Christmas carols!

The day before Christmas we made sugar cookies for Santa. Even Jacob got in on the fun, cutting out his shapes and decorating with frosting. 

Each year they get better and better at decorating!

Abi loves helping in the kitchen and she helped me rolls sausage balls for Christmas morning this year.