Christmas

We spent Christmas at home this year. This was a first for our little family, and we had a great day. We  missed our extended families but I must admit it was nice to avoid packing and traveling with three little ones. It was also good for us to be home because Jane and Cate had colds and all three girls ended up throwing up over the course of 5 days. Strangely, it started with Lizzie and made its way to Cate and then Jane. Feeling exhausted, Jane took a couple of extra long naps on the 26th and 27th. This extra sleep left her feeling energized, so she ended up hanging out with us until 10 pm both nights. It wasn't so bad but it made it hard for Trever to cook his usual chocolate chip cookies and for me to have my nightly chocolate. Luckily Trever and I stayed healthy and everyone is on the mend.

On Christmas morning Jane was the first one to wake up. She was careful to follow the rules of "no peaking" until her sisters were awake. She waited patiently to see what Santa brought, and by 7:30 am we decided to wake Cate up, and let the party begin. Jane definitely understood the whole Santa thing this year, which was really fun. She had lots of questions about Santa and we seemed to give answers that satisfied her curiosity. I have a feeling this is going to be a little more challenging as the years go on.

This picture is blurry but the facial expressions are my favorite

The girls took their time opening presents and at 11:00 am we took a break to enjoy cinnamon bread. My mother-in-law makes a cinnamon roll/bread in the shape of a candy cane and it is delicious. I made my first one this year, and while I still need to work on the cutting, folding and overall presentation, the flavor was there. We spent the rest of the morning/afternoon opening presents, playing with gifts and talking to family on Skype. One of my personal highlights was the nap I was able to sneak in while two of our three kids were sleeping (a rare occasion around here). I don't even remember what we had for dinner but it wasn't elaborate. We kept the whole day simple and that was just what we needed.