Oh, that’s right.  This was Theo’s third Christmas and Dexter’s second.

But it felt like our first real Christmas.  It was important to me that we spent Christmas as a family, at our own home, on Christmas day.  I figured at 2 yrs and 9 months and smart as a whip, this would be the first year that Theo would really “get” it.  Santa.  Waiting until Christmas to open presents.  Leaving out treats for Santa and his reindeer on the fireplace hearth.

I had a lot of big ideas about traditions we would start this year and envisioned a picturesque scene of the gentle glow of our tree next to the crackling fire as we sat around on the floor nearby reading The Night Before Christmas and sipping hot cocoa, while wearing our coordinating Christmas Eve pajamas.

Well, per Theo’s request, we ended up with LED lights that let off more of a neon illumination than a warm glow. Our fireplace is gas and does not crackle.  We don’t have a mantle (yet) so the stockings were hung on the entertainment center. I was too tired to make hot cocoa and the boys had very little interest in The Night Before Christmas.  We did read it to each of them separately before they went to bed.  I threw some new pajama pants for myself and Ryan in the cart at Target a few days before Christmas and ordered the boys’ from Carters a week before that because I couldn’t find any in the stores by that point. So pieces of my vision fell into place but this house is not yet what we want it to be.  We’ll get there eventually. Maybe.

Their faces were priceless.  They loved (almost) every gift.  I’m just not a proper mom if I don’t give my kids some toothbrushes and socks for Christmas, right?

We went to Cincinnati for New Year’s weekend to celebrate Christmas with Ryan’s sister and her family.  Then we went to Tennessee to celebrate with my family once Penelope was born.  That’s about a 3 week long celebration!