An Early Christmas

I thought I always wanted a tree with themed and coordinating decorations and ribbons. I tried, but the girls were little and my fragile balls and bows were grabbed at and quickly broken.

Each year as our boxes of decorations come out, I love all the mismatched ornaments and memories surrounding each item that goes on the tree.

From school pictures in wooden craft frames,

 to homemade decorations given to us from friends and family, and little drums and snowmen bought in bulk to fill in empty spots years ago,

 each item is lovingly placed and the tree fills in with memories.

This year, with plans to travel to Connecticut for Christmas, we decided to have the bulk of our Christmas early, opening gifts from each other and having only Santa come on Christmas. That way we didn't have to take up precious space in the car to pack all the gifts, only to tell the kids not to play with them because we didn't want them lost or broken before getting them back home.

We loved our early Christmas! And, honestly, I want to do this from now on. We planned to have our Christmas on the last day of school. Gifts were placed under the tree and the excitement mounted. Logan was counting down the days and couldn't wait.

Along with our normal few gifts the children get for sure (one from mom and dad and one from the rest of the siblings and grandparents), each of the children got gifts for each other. The boys had a Santa Shop at school and with Alyssa driving, she took Natalie to the dollar store to get things as well. It was so fun to have everyone thinking of each other and excited to see others open their gifts.

We had a Christmas dinner of ham, potatoes, and rolls. Then gathered around the tree and sang a couple of Christmas songs before taking turns to open gifts.

A tie for Robert.

 Some slippers for Alyssa.

 A cookie recipe and bag of ingredients for Natalie.

  Nerf guns,

 and more.

Logan was hugging everyone, no one was tired and cranky from waking up early, the gifts got to be played with without having a whole day to get bored of them.

After playing for a bit and cleaning up, the kids watched a movie and went to bed. 

I think it was one of the best Christmases ever!