So this is Christmas..

Christmas has once again come and gone in a flash at the Holt house.  We hosted SEVEN Christmas parties among trying to keep every other tradition we have alive.  Next year I think we will be taking a break from the parties all together.  We love having our family and friends over and the parties are always such a blast but I felt a little bad the day before Christmas when Bailey mentioned that it just didn't feel like Christmas.  It didn't, I admit and I believe some of it is that even though we still "fit" everything in, it was just that, "fitted in".  The past few days have been wonderful.  Mat's been home to celebrate with us and Santa treated us well.



The kids were so excited for Santa to come they went to bed at 9:00!  If you know us, that is pretty early for the Holt kiddos.  They must've gone to bed a little too early because at 11:30 they were up and checking out what Santa (who must've been rather quick) left for them!  They wanted to open their gifts of course but Peyton was still asleep and wanted to stay that way.  I admit, I was envious of her.

We gave in and let them open their gifts and Peyton remained asleep throughout the noise.

Easton's big gift of the year was a "ginormous" box!  He told everyone how he had asked Santa for a ginormous box and was sure he was getting one.  After he saw it he came running into our room telling us we MUST see how huge it really was!  All of his gifts were inside the box and he had a blast going in to get each one.  He now cannot stop talking about his box and frankly feels mighty rad to have such a treasure.

The kids must've used their two and a half hours as their power nap because they stayed up until 4:00am playing with their toys and were back up at 8:00 to play some more.

Peyton finally emerged around 9:30 am and found her new bike that she has been talking about for months.

All of the kids were completely spoiled with gifts.  Peyton was especially fun to watch open hers.  She marveled over each one and they all made her so happy.

The best gift given and received however, belongs to me!  My sweet little boys made me a new cedar chest.  Made in my preferred style (shaker style with white lacquer) and made almost completely by their seven and eight year old hands.  Along with the cedar chest I received a packet full of photos showing my boys building it from start to finish.  It filled my mommy heart with so much joy!

We been having a blast with all of our gifts.  The kids have seen mom cry over the season on more occasions than they would like I'm sure, which overall I think makes for a fabulous holiday!  Blessed, always very blessed!