Christmas 2014

 I knew this Christmas was going to be full of magic. It just had to be.
This is most likely the last Christmas I will ever spend with my kids on Christmas Eve AND Christmas day because of our parenting plan.
I had all of our presents bought weeks ago. It was small but small is ok. In fact, I liked small this year.

On Christmas Eve, the kids opened their new pajamas and both of them were overjoyed. We had spent most of the afternoon/evening with my parents, taking family pictures and eating delicious food, so by the time we got home, it was already past bedtime.

As soon as the kids went to bed, I got started on my Santa duties.

I thought it would take longer to put Ninja's drums together but they actually weren't too bad. I got it all done within the hour and I headed to bed for the night.

 The morning was, as expected, all sorts of magical. The kids were both full of gratitude that Santa had listened to their requests. We were wrapped up in happiness and family time for most of the time.

And then 2pm rolled around and my kids left to their dads house---and selfish me, I started to ache to have them back. And not only did I ache to have them back, I started to feel sorry for myself that I was single. My sisters were planning a date night with their husbands to the movies and I didn't want to go. Instead, I headed to my best friend's house and spent the rest of the day with her family.

As I was contemplating the afternoon of Christmas, I struggled with a few things. I felt guilty for not wanting to be around my family after my kids left. I wasn't sure they would understand. I wasn't sure they would be happy about it.
In the past year, I've learned some things about myself and one of those things is that it's hard to be around my nieces and nephews when my kids are gone. I find myself missing them more. I still spend time with my family when my kids aren't there but I avoid it sometimes. I've also found that it is really hard to go on "dates" with my sisters or friends and their spouses. I feel like a third or fifth or ninth wheel.

But guilt aside, it was a great afternoon. I'm so grateful my friends are so welcoming. They get it. They love me. I am a part of more than one family these days.

Along with Christmas day came the thought that I'd actually get Christmas cards out this year.
About that...
They're currently all printed and sitting on my desk. They just haven't left my desk. And I'm not sure if they will ever leave my desk...

But it was the first year I've ever printed Christmas cards so maybe next year will be the first year I mail some out.

 I jotted down some highlights of 2014 for our family.

And filled the other side with pictures...because I LOOOOOOOOVE pictures.

I'm sorry you may not have gotten a card from us and if you did, you should feel extra lucky because you're probably one of three people.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Christmas Eve: Maughan's

We woke up early Christmas Eve morning to head up to Tucson to spend most of the day with Boss' family.

The cousins were super excited to play with each other.

Well, Spidey just wanted to play on the iPad but oh well. He played with the girls for a while. :)

After breakfast, the kids were really excited to open presents.

Leezer got Petey nail polish and a princess purse.

Miss B got Spidey a set of matchbox cars. He was super excited and has played with them a ton.

My kids each picked out a book and a princess water bottle for their cousin gift exchange.

Then it was time to open some presents from uncles and grandparents.

Uncle Benny got the kids a matching game. He also got the girls princess purses that they could color themselves and the boys got two matchbox cars.

Nana and Papa got the kids new puzzles. Those have been a favorite at our house.

The sock monkeys were also a big hit. Spidey sleeps with his every night.

As you can see by the look on Petey's face, my kids LOVE games. :)

And lucky Boss got a tool set that used to be his grandpa's, plus some new tools his dad got him.

I lucked out with a fancy griddle among many other things. We were spoiled and blessed and are so grateful that we could spend some time with Boss' family before starting the craziness of the rest of the week with my family.

Stay tuned for the Christmas Day post. I'll get around to it soon enough. Maybe even tomorrow {since you're all on pins and needles waiting for me to post it, right}. :)

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve morning, we packed up the car (I mean REALLY packed it tight) and headed down to Tucson for the weekend.

As soon as we got there, the kids found their best friend, Paco, and gave him some love (too much love). :)For lunch that day, Petey tried sushi for the first time. She didn't like it much and Papa helped her spit it into a napkin shortly after this picture.It was Katie's first time trying sushi too and she wasn't a big fan either. But she wasn't getting off that easy and she had to swallow hers. :)That night, Santa's elves brought our family some new pajamas for Christmas. The kids were SO excited to both get Toy Story pj's this year. Papa offered to let them Petey sleep on the couch in his room and Petey had such a fun time snuggling on their couch. Unfortunatly, an hour later she was still wide awake so we had to move her to a less fun room to sleep with her brother. :)

That night, we also continued our tradition and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and read the story of Christ's birth in the scriptures. It was a fun filled family night and we were so blessed to be able to spend that time with our Maughan family.