Christmas Eve 2019

My headache has been in an unfortunate place for the start of the new year but I am determined that this is my year to figure out the cause, not to mention pain relief that actually works for me. I'm already seeing 2 new health professionals and I hope one or both of them are heading in the right direction. It does explain my absence from here though but I don't want to do move on to the new year without sharing the final celebration of 2019 that was Christmas. I LOVE CHRISTMAS SO MUCH and this was one I'm holding on to forever!

The magic on Christmas Eve was palpable, I could almost touch it with my fingertips. Everyone woke up with a "this is the BEST DAY EVER" attitude and we started the day with the greatest Christmas Eve tradition, sledding! There was hardly a flake of snow in sight but when the snow doesn't find you, you can always go find it ... in the form of a well groomed man made sledding hill right in the middle of town. ;) Our sledding crew ... 

The real MVP who always offered to haul all the tubes and all the children ...

Luckily it was a conveyer belt situation so not too much work was had by anyone.

I love how tiny she looks in that tube! She never actually rode by herself and truly looked nervous every time we held her going down the hill but still smiled once we reached the bottom. haha

Liam on the other hand lived his best dare devil life!

Brendan's wet pants! haha He insisted on not wearing a stitch of snow gear (it really wasn't that cold) but we all laughed when he went to jump on this tube for the picture and tipped over face first.

Me and my best little guy!

The teenage guys who worked there were so free spirited about how you went down the hill. We rode as a train once, in a big tangled mess, some on their stomachs with a big swan dive, etc. It was the best time!!

Both kids were so excited to see snow! Liam really wanted to just play in it despite the signs everywhere that said not to but you can't stop them from an adorable snow angel or two ...

After sledding we went back home for nap time for Lyla but instead she insisted on opening a present and no nap was actually taken. Both kids opened a new Christmas book to add to our collection ... Pick a Pine Tree for Liam and The Little Reindeer for Lyla. We happily found a take n' bake pizza on our porch from a sweet neighbor and it turned out to be the best lunch surprise!

Liam did some coloring during quiet time and practically had me in tears when he told me he drew a picture of me as a present because he "loves me so much!" I adore him!!

As his last day with us, Banana the elf showed up that morning in a ziplock bag so Liam could take him anywhere he wanted that day without losing his magic from being touched. He loved carrying Banana around on all of our adventures and brought him to Sita's house for Christmas Eve dinner.

Banana might need to come with a girlfriend next year because someone had a difficult time sharing ...

The present snatcher herself ... every time we turned around she had grabbed a new one from under the tree to try and open it without anyone noticing. haha Who can say no to that face! She loves that little monkey in my mom's toy collection ...

She loves her Uncle Brendan even more and sat right next to him the whole night!

He sweetly let her open pretty much all of his gifts ...

When it was finally their turn to open one ...

My mom let them open their gift from GG (great grandma) and they spent the rest of Christmas Eve night playing with magnetic dress up dolls ...

And a lego race car!

Snuggling with Sita ...

Just before bed Liam and Nic spread 9 carrots on our patio, one for each reindeer, and Lyla helped me pour Santa's milk and put cookies on his plate. We all piled in Liam's bed while daddy read Twas the Night Before Christmas and we tucked them in bed with sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads.

Merry Christmas Eve! XO