And! I have un-christmassed 4/7 beds with plans to do 2 more today! (Harry's can wait until he goes back to school. Hos room in an unbelievable disaster right now, and I have asked him to please keep the door closed).
I am still so proud of us for pulling off the car surprise! We parked it in our neighborhood for DAYS before The Big Day and made sure to walk by and turn it on (remote start for the win) and move it every now and then. We always planned to buy him a car before summer, and when the dealer had this one (2121 Kia Forte) that was in our budget and in really good shape, we knew it was meant to be. I also really like buying certified used from Kia-- you can reinstate the OG warranty, and everything inside and out is covered until 2031 or 100K miles. This makes me feel much better about my kid driving far away from home. Plus it has roadside assistance, flat tire assist, etc etc etc.
Harry had fewer (and smaller) gifts than the rest of the kids, and his last present was a pair of gloves from Costco like the ones he used to borrow from my dad. The key was inside, and we asked him to try the gloves on to make sure they fit.
We had a fun Christmas Eve at our favorite Thai restaurant, and the kids opened gifts from Ben's parents. Dorothy got the sweatshirt she has been DYING for, so her holiday was basically made. Ben and I decided at the last minute to buy a few small things for each other, and Dorothy helped me shop. We decorated Santa cookies and made gingerbread houses from scratch.
The kids got me a Comfy
Minnie adores frosting
Christmas dinner!
A cozy morning
A weighted vest!!!
I made a flourless chocolate cake and ate myself literally sick.
DREAMS CAME TRUE all around
The elves use way too much tape.
Sisters.
Dorothy only wanted the sillies tthings.
Thank goodness someone still loves dolls.
We had our family yankee swap on Christmas Eve. The theme was purple.
Ugly sweater twinning.
Dinner
matchies!
They opened their stockings together. Satna delivers them to bedrooms.
Gingy houses
Our elves brought matching jammies (including Annabel and Minnie's dolly) and games
Santa cookies!
Ladies who lunch
Cheers!
(Jack took this with his new camera)
I'm curious why you take down the trees so soon after Christmas? You seem to really love the holidays. I usually have ours down on NYD, so I don't have to deal with it when the new semester begins.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think you and your husband won Christmas with the car surprise! Enjoy your weekend!
You packed in SO MUCH CHRISTMAS!!!! We didn't have Christmas Eve, so are postponing that for awhile, and I feel like I have to keep Christmas up in my house until at least New Year's Day so my parents can potentially come over and see it. But I am super jealous that Christmas is GONE from your house!
ReplyDeleteAlso I am super curious what Dorothy's much-wanted sweatshirt was?
Lululemon Scuba-- she has wanted one froever
Deleteugh-- FORever
DeleteWhat a festive holiday for all you! We will keep our tree up until mid-Jan probably. I love having the glow of the tree. I am debating making it into a Valentine’s Day tree actually because I could use the glow of a tree. But ours is fake so we can keep it up as long as we would like. I need to see if Phil is on board with a Valentine’s Day tree though.
ReplyDeleteThe car surprise is so fun!!
I'm so with you on keeping the tree up as long as possible Lisa! So festive and provides that lovely glow in the early morning/evening...helps with how dark it is!
DeleteI love your car trick! That's totally fun. Was he sad that he had fewer/smaller gifts at first, or is he all mature now and figured, "well, they pay for my college so..."
ReplyDeleteWe keep our tree up until Jan 1st. We don't have a ton of decorations, so it's not too bad. Just the tree and the mantle, and even that starts to feel claustrophobic after a while. How do you manage to get Santa to deliver stockings to their rooms? He only fills ours over the mantle. Do the kids put the stockings out in front of their doors at bedtime?
I'm sorry, the most important piece of this post is "favorite Thai restaurant". DO TELL. Seriously, which one do you like? I've done Sa Bai Thong, but only because it's so close. Recommendations, please? :)
ReplyDelete(Also, if I decorated, this would be me. I can totally get behind de-Christmasing asap.)
You do Christmas BIG in your house and it looks so fun and festive, but I totally get wanting to take things down ASAP. I'll leave my tree up until next Friday, probably, when the kids have one day back at school (seriously - one day before a weekend?? whose idea was that?!). But I leave my mantle swag and wreaths up for months!
ReplyDeleteI told myself I wasn’t going to start putting Christmas away until the first weekend of January, but guess who started taking things down on Dec 26? I will slowly undecorate so the tree is still up for now, but it feels good to start slowly getting the apartment back in order.
ReplyDeleteThe car surprise is so good! That will be a core memory for Harry (and you guys!) for sure.
Given the fact that our tree is unstable and anchored to the curtain rod, we should probably take it down early, but who has time for that? Coach and I have to finish aNOTHER adoption certification training online before tomorrow morning. I'm almost done. Still, why? It's all review.
ReplyDeleteI love the key in the glove. That's how Coach proposed to me, using a glove I thought I'd lost at Marshall Fields. He said MF didn't find it, but they DID.
Your Christmas looks fun and festive and cozy all at the same time. Love the pictures. I've never heard of Santa delivering stockings to bedrooms. That guy is so smart to know who sleeps where. ;)
What a wonderful Christmas!!! Sounds like everyone was happy. It's now my life goal to someday, give someone a car for Christmas. That must have been amazing.
ReplyDelete