This year, Russ’ parents traveled up from North Carolina to visit with us before Christmas. It’s been a long time since we have seen them, so we took every last moment with had to make the most of the time and began our holiday celebrating early.
The kids were in heaven
(and if I can be honest, I had a pretty good time too.
I love baking and having my mother-in-law, also a baker, in the house was just lovely.)

It was just a few short days with my inlaws before they left for NJ to spend time with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their children for Christmas and so we just decided to continue the holiday festivities as a family over the weekend.

And by the time Christmas Eve arrived, the kids were all whipped up into a full-on frenzy and we celebrated our typical traditions:
a big dinner, family photos, cookies for Santa, and watching It’s a Wonderful Life together before sending the kids off to bed.

Christmas morning Russ and I woke the kids super early. He was scheduled to work at 11am and in order for him to get to see the kids open presents it needed to be done before 9am.
They came down the stairs sleepily but that quickly turned to excitement when they spotted all the presents under the tree and then the chaos started (and my OCD kicked into overdrive )

Everyone was happy with their gifts, Russ got to witness it all and then he had to leave and the kids just remained excited and happy for the rest of the day, carrying me along for the ride
My parents, youngest siblings, brother Jason and his wife Yesenia all came over to have a yummy Christmas dinner of ham and pineapple stuffing and we spent hours just sitting around the table laughing and telling old silly stories.
It was wonderful.

And it truly is a Wonderful Life.