Christmas 2019

With Thanksgiving being so late in the year, the 2019 Christmas season felt like it sped by.  I love this time of year and am always a little sad once the Christmas decorations come down and the kids return to school. This year's Christmas was an exceptionally good one. The way the calendar fell caused a pretty long break from school, so it almost felt like a four part break: Christmas in St. Louis, Christmas in Decatur, post-Christmas/down time/New Year's in St. Louis, and then our Minnesota Christmas getaway. 

Starting with a few fun Christmas activities we enjoyed leading up to Christmas-

Kate skated as a peppermint in the Nutcracker on Ice.

Class parties were fun this year. I love this picture of Drew with his friends Tyler and Colby. These three were in the same preschool class years ago and landed in the same class again for their last year of elementary. I am sure if I looked, I could find a picture of these three from their preschool class Christmas party as well. 

Kate and I both really like her third grade teacher, Ms. Daniels.

We were lucky to have snow right before Christmas, giving us a couple snow days off of school. 

We warmed up from playing in the snow by making gingerbread houses together. 

Patti got Kate and I tickets to see Wicked for Christmas.  The entire experience couldn't have been better- we had amazing seats, the Fox was decorated so beautifully for Christmas, and Kate loved the show.  She requested our Alexa to play "Wicked" songs for the next week almost constantly. 

Please note the fancy earrings and pale pink eye shadow.
My sweet little/big girl wanted to be as fancy as possible for our big date.

There was lots of fun to be had at preschool for Christmas as well. The holiday sing along, the staff Christmas party, the adorable Santa and reindeer and snowmen crafts, the handmade gifts for the students to give their parent, the excitement..... 

Christmas is a fun time to be a preschool teacher. 

We enjoyed a couple of evenings out with friends in the time leading up to Christmas as well. Some friends of ours hosted a Music Night in their home and invited many of their musical friends (and us ;)) to come over for music and drinks. The performances and sing alongs and hot drinks made for the nicest evening.

 Another night we visited Christmas pop up bars around St. Louis. We drank fruity drinks with funny Christmas-themed names and then decided that it was a good idea to eat greasy cheeseburgers and fries at the Courtesy Diner at one in the morning. It was a great night, but my headache the next day reminded me that I am 42 and not used to nights like that.

One of the best parts of the Christmas season is watching movies by the twinkle of the Christmas tree lights. We found quite a few times to curl up with a blanket and some popcorn.

Ben caught this for me. Love that she still loves to cuddle.
Soon she won't fit on my lap anymore, so I'm holding tight to these moments when I am given them. 

We dug the VCR out of storage and hooked it up in the den to watch some Christmas movies from the 80s's.
Kate and Drew were not impressed. ;)

And our Christmas in St. Louis....

For as long as we've been married, Ben and I have traveled to Decatur on Christmas Eve. In order to have our own Christmas too, we've needed to adopt December 23 as our Christmas with just us. The traditions have evolved over the years as the kids have gotten older. When they were little, the day was mostly about cookies and presents and Christmas movies. I love what the day has now become, including lunch on the Hill, candlelight service at church, and ice skating at Steinberg. This year we even threw in a new coffee house and a little last minute Christmas shopping at our favorite little book store.  Of course we still enjoy making the Christmas cookies, opening presents, and watching a movie together!  I miss babies, but big kids and teenagers sure are a lot of fun.  

Our family Christmas day-

 Christmas in Decatur-

The days following Christmas were incredibly laid back. Luke stayed in Decatur for some extra time with my parents. Gracie had almost- constant friend plans. Ben and I were content to relax at home and spend time with each other and our littles after a very busy few weeks of travel for Ben. Kate and Drew each had a sleepover, something we don't really do much of for them yet. Drew was in a basketball tournament. Kate and I created some things. I organized my new office space now that Ben has moved himself out to the garage (his choice) and we no longer share a space. We prepped some things for a New Year's Day party we were hosting. We gathered things we would need for our trip to Minnesota. We stayed up late and slept in (which in my world means sleeping until 7:45...) and spent entire days in comfy, perfect- for- being- lazy clothes. I read five books. I dug out my old scrapbooking supplies. It was relaxing and cozy and resting.