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Christmas Break 2022

Wow!  How are we already 4 days into January?!  I already feel like I’m running behind!

How was your break, if you had one?!  Ours non-eventful in some ways and then crazy, super busy eventful in other ways.  

The kids were off on break over a week before Christmas, so I had to make sure most of my affairs were in order before they were all home for that entire week.  I did the best I could and we ended up having a pretty relaxing week.  During that time we also experienced negative windchill here in Michigan, which made for us staying indoors a lot of the time and to be honest, it was kind of nice!  I do believe I lived in my pajamas for five days, something I’ve never really done before (other than having newborns), but it was exactly what I needed!

During break, I was able to finally order the kids’ Santa picture!  Jane only whimpered a little while Santa attempted to get close.  Santa has been seeing our kids since they were itty bitty and he made a comment about how much they’ve grown and you guys, he had tears in his eyes and I. Almost. Lost. It.  He’s absolutely magical and we love him to pieces!

I made a little Instagram Reel about my Christmas morning basket.  It was filled with batteries, screwdrivers, tape and scissors.  Next year I’ll add trash bags to this, too!

Some friends of ours from out in Washington sent me Sam Heughan’s new book, “Waypoints,” and I was obviously thrilled!  Have any of you watched Outlander?!  This fella, I tell ya… 😉

Hahaha!

Sorry, Jon!  LOL!

Our elves kept us busy…

Henry, myself and Eliza made cinnamon bun Christmas trees and Santa hats.  In some ways they ended up looking like poo.  LOL!  Buuuuut, they were super easy to make and the kids really enjoyed it!

The elves brought us prebuilt gingerbread houses and you guys – it was awesome!  Usually there’s crying or someone is upset about their house falling over.  I was planning to hot glue the houses this year, but luckily the “elves” found these prebuilt houses at Walmart and the kids were soooo much happier.  They spent lots of time decorating and not a single tear was shed!

Amen.

Eliza had her friend, Ashlyn, spend the night!  I love these girls so much!

We made homemade sugar cookies and we used a new recipe that was found on All Recipes!  So good!!!

My island had sugar and flour everywhere and it was amazing!

Here’s Jon’s funny cookie!

We were all cracking up and I told him it was his Christmas themed cookie!  LOL!

The cookie I decorated…not as depressing.  LOL!

We snuggled in bed and had lots of sloooow mornings!

We had multiple movie nights!  We also watched lots and lots of Christmas movies/shows.  The kids watched all of the Indiana Jones movies and Jon and I watched a a handful of movies, too!
Jon made chocolate malts during the movies…
The kids woke up on Christmas Eve and were able to hold their elves until 4:00 that day!

Elmer the Elf has seen some things in his days!  Hahaha!  He’s been on lots of adventures, that’s for sure. 😉
4 o’clock came quickly!  The kids said their goodbyes…

Eliza baked and baked and baked her little heart out!

Our Christmas Elves left, and per usual left us pajamas at the front door!  Our Elves didn’t bring Jon and myself matching shirts…they must’ve ran out of material at their workshop.  😉  The kids thought it was hilarious that we didn’t have shirts.  Eliza’s bottoms didn’t fit…  buuuuut everyone was happy and it was all really silly, so that’s all that matters!

The kids got busy making reindeer food and setting out Christmas cookies and milk for Santa.

The kids throwing out the reindeer food.  This was extremely cold!!!!!

Then we were back inside to set out cookies and milk for Santa.
They were just about ready!
The kids set out traps for Santa again, too!
Ignore the un-hemmed curtains, but Jane checked the skies for Santa’s sleigh!
Jon and I watched, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and we had a nice and relaxing and slow evening.  It was great!
….and then Santa showed up!!!
Henry and Eliza opened silly presents first, which worked out perfectly!  Eliza also made the funniest face upon seeing that Jane had received what she had asked for only to find out later that she also received the same gifts as Jane!  It was great!
Henry cracking up over his Chicken game…
Eliza opening up her underwear…
Then things got serious!

Jon was a happy camper with his new covered chair for soccer games!
Jon and his new Wooly shirt!
Jane and Eliza took a dip in the sea of wrapping paper!
This was a huge hit!  Jon got up to 500 jumps!
The kids received Just Dance 2023 – always a winner!
Later in the week, I took Henry for a much needed haircut.

Jane was silly as usual!
I finally took a picture of the kids with their gingerbread houses!
I didn’t get around to a Holiday Home Tour this year, but snapped a couple quick pictures of Henry and Eliza’s Christmas trees before taking them down.  I didn’t put out nearly as many decorations as I normally do, it may not look that way in the family room, but I just didn’t have the heart or energy this year to do more…
I was proud that I was able to get up the kids’ trees.  They really enjoy having trees in their rooms.  🙂
I had originally planned on making Eliza’s tree super bright and cute, but this is what we landed with – a bunch of leftover ornaments.  She was happy with it, so I was happy with it!  
….and that was our Christmas spent at home!  I’ll be sharing more of the weekend that followed and our New Year’s celebrations!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Marie 🙂

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2 Comments

  1. Y'all squeezed in a whole lot of goodness in just a couple of weeks! I know this year was bittersweet for you after the loss of your dad, so I'm glad you were able to find some joy during the holidays, too. <3

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