A Perfect Christmas

I am actually writing this on Christmas evening... there are only a few minutes left of December 25th... but I wanted to write while it was still fresh. While I could still smell the relaxation and breathe in the Christmas glow.

This Christmas was simply perfect. It was the first Christmas in my own home and honestly, I enjoyed every minute of it. Home. Full of family, but at my home.

Christmas Eve morning was a blur of Seabird, "Christmas Eve Gift" (I won!), chocolate chip pancakes and last minute wrapping. Christmas Eve afternoon/evening was a blur of three crazy services at church that were actually quite a lot of fun. As soon as cleanup was done, we headed home for the best Christmas Eve in recent memory.

We ate a huge feast at a beautiful table then headed outdoors onto a patio Fernando had decorated as a surprise - it was dripping with white lights of all sizes. We made s'mores in our new fire pit, and sat around the fire singing (and making ash jokes) for hours. When Violet actually fell asleep in her swing, we put a hat and a blanket on her and kept on singing. Before bed, the kids opened their Christmas pajama gift and shocked us with the amount of excitement pajamas could elicit from kids. They haven't taken them off still - it's been over 24 hours.

Mema, Papa, TK and Kito all slept on the living room floor on air mattresses and stayed up even later watching movies. We enjoyed the luxury of our own beds and all slept in until nearly nine. The morning was full of presents and food - I so enjoyed treating the Arizona family to the Texas family traditions: Pullapart cake, breakfast burritos (with cranberry sauce!), strawberry Jell-O salad, and more.

The purple apron got some serious usage and Gramma was on my brain all day. I'm starting to understand her obsession with hosting. Recently when looking through her old cookbooks (shamelessly scavenging for good recipes) I found some of her "preparation pages" for when we'd come to visit. She'd have everyday planned in advance, with a list of our favorite dishes, coordinated to make sure each day had something amazing. I laughed at the time, but felt like hugging her for it today.

Everyone napped or just rested during the afternoon, watching movies and just lounging. I prepared dinner in the kitchen and honestly cannot remember every enjoying "kitchen time" that much. The recipes I made involved lots of time and preparation but instead of being a source of frustration, the effort was soothing. The stirring and mixing was calming and it was a perfect few hours of quiet cooking and reflection. The meal itself was a huge success - happy faces and full bellies all around.

We had so much fun we're doing it again tomorrow... Mema and Papa are coming back for dinner and sleepover round two tomorrow night.

I'll write about some favorite toys and memories in the kids' blogs tomorrow... but for tonight, I just wanted to try to capture the feeling. It really was everything a good Christmas should be and it had nothing to do with the gifts. I guess it never really does.