The Day After Recap…..

What a busy few days we have had!  I was going to do a recap last night, but I crashed pretty early, so I figured today was soon enough.  There is no way to include it all but here is a little taste of our Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

After a relaxing round of appetizers and cocktails we celebrated our little
Christmas boy who is growing into a handsome young man.  It has not easy to get him to cooperate for a picture, but as he is maturing, he is more willing to let us snap off a few shots.  I know he had a very Happy Birthday!  We work hard to take the time to make sure on Christmas Eve a chunk of our evening is devoted just for him.
Thankfully he loves that his birthday is on such a special day.

The rest of the night was dedicated to Christmas Eve celebrations.
A Lasagne dinner, my traditional homemade Eggnog topped off with some dark spiced rum for the adults and virgin Eggnog for the younger ones.
We watched "The Christmas Story" as we always do while talking, laughing and just enjoying each other's company.

Tearing into the presents began.  My kids did their sibling swap, which now includes my parents and of course little Asher entertained us like no other little entertainer could.  What a funny little boy he already is…we just love him!

Christmas morning started a little earlier than usual now that all of the kids who stay home for the holiday are older and like to sleep a little later.  Some of us were heading down to visit my son's family earlier than we expected, so I hauled them all out of bed. I remember the days when they were hauling Ken and I out of bed before the crack of dawn..ha! 
Miles's family couldn't be with us because he had to work on Christmas eve, and they were going to be traveling later in the day to spend time with his wife, Jen's family, thus the early rising.

We enjoyed a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, coffee and more present unwrapping. 
This year I have to say my children and husband were so generous to me.  The kids asked me for a list and instead of saying my usual "I don't need anything", as I know how crazy it makes me when someone says that to me, I gave them a little list…and in return they gave me a wonderful Christmas as you can see.
(more about that cutting board in another post)

This picture that Courtney gave to me just made me smile on every single level.  Each one of these pictures are ones that she took on our two vacations at Cape Cod when she was with us.  She is an amazing photographer with her phone.  She told me that she had been saving so that she could give this picture to me…a picture I will always treasure!
She produced the picture with a company called PrintStudio and they did a wonderful job!

Christmas Day was spent with my son, Miles and his family, along with my parents and Hannah.  Little Finley is getting so big.  In this picture they are watching a personalized video from Santa to Finley and you can see from the expression on his face how much he loved it!  We had such a nice time visiting with them, but I will admit that once home again with some dinner and a glass of wine, I crashed big time.
Christmas is the most magical time of year and I love every single moment, but when it is over, you realize how exhausting it can be…
I love it!