It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ah, Christmas!  It's the most wonderful time of the year.  And now, it's done.  We had a great holiday season.  We had Art's Mom out for almost a week, which was nice to have some time with her.  Auntie Frieda came and stayed for most of that time that Mom was here, which was lovely.  We ate, and laughed, and did puzzles, and ate some more, and celebrated Christmas.  It was exciting to spend our first Christmas in our new home, and nice to make some memories here.

 

Christmas Eve is always appetizers, which is relatively easy, since I'm usually in the kitchen for a few days before Christmas.  This year was no exception. 

 

 

These little ladies are starting to look so grown up!  It was super nice to have a couple of sous chefs in the kitchen, helping me this year.  Molly was helpful in some of my prep....

 

As well as Abby, the superstar kitchen helper.  As I looked around the table, I told them they MUST stop growing up, because they are looking more and more like young ladies, rather than little girls!

 

Molly and Ellie Mae made sure to put out cookies and milk for Santa.  Art remarked that he thought that they should put out rum and pretzels, but whatevs....

 

We always open one gift on Christmas Eve, and this year, the Girls received excellent pj's.  Oy, they were so cute.  Hannah's were just a little bit different, which she was thrilled about!

Christmas morning is always so fun, and we love watching the Girls open their stockings (my favorite part!).  Ellie Mae got this camo buff in her stocking, which I don't think she's taken off since then.  It's to aid in her "coyote hunting", which she loves to do with Art.

 



 

Molly still loves sock monkey anything, so these ear warmers were a bit hit for her.

 

Art's Mom had her stocking to open,

 

 

...as well as Auntie Frieda.  We were so lucky this year, she stayed with us for several days.  It was lovely to get up and sit around in our pj's, while she drank coffee and we watched the birds.

 

The Girls added a few animals to their Schleich collection, as well as a cattle squeeze and some chutes.  These things are always necessary when you are running a ranch in the basement!

 

Auntie Frieda made all the girls hats and scarves and gloves this year.  It's a tradition of sorts, and one I totally love.  The Girls look forward to these new clothes to keep them warm every year or two.  We also all got slippers.

 

From every single person The Girls know, this year we all pooled together and got some chinks made for them.  They were able to pick out the leather and conches that they wanted back in November, but it was a surprise to them to open up a gift and actually see what they had chosen, and how they turned out.  They didn't take these chinks off for days, and would wear them over their pjs to play, all day long.  They played lego in them, cleaned the house in them.... I laughed very hard, and they informed me that they were "breaking them in".  That's hard to argue with.... They have got to ride in them a few times, and every time we go to the barn, they throw those bad boys on, even if they're just helping with chores.

 

These are just a few pictures from our holiday season.  We also celebrated Art's Mom's birthday, Hannah's birthday, and New Years in the couple of days following Christmas.  It was full, for sure, but very, very lovely.  After New Year's, we basically sat around and rested and relaxed after a full week of celebrating. 

 

Monday was back to the routine and schedule of life, and I'm not gonna lie, I do love that.  It's nice to have some sort of rhythm to our days again, although I did enjoy a break.  Hope your holidays were great!