I hope you and your loved ones had a beautiful Christmas. I haven’t wanted to let Christmas go just quite yet, but I suppose it’s time.

It was very simple this year on my end, basically consisting of showing up at my in-laws’ house and letting them handle the details. That’s just what you have to do six weeks postpartum!

We packed up and headed to the clubfoot clinic the day before (and came back through on the way back), which gave us the opportunity to see the lights at Temple Square and meet up with my sister and her special friend. It was packed so close to Christmas, and perhaps not the best activity for a very active toddler… maybe it would’ve been easier for her with a stroller and some hot chocolate. I’ll remember that for next time! Jonas slept the whole time in his carrier though, and I didn’t mind snuggling him up close.

It was so fun — we were able to be together with all of my husband’s siblings and their kids, and Adelina had a blast playing with cousins and opening “cadeaux;” she definitely learned that word quickly! There was cookie-baking, playing (cars and racetracks were a big hit with everybody, and my in-laws have a cute Little People nativity set that Adelina loves), soccer matches (during which I may have accidentally drop-body-slammed Adelina onto the ground…), crepe-making and general eating of good food, some shopping of course, and lots of watching Survivor (man, that show is so good!).

On Christmas Eve we watched an adorable video of the Nativity story, and then the kids all got to dress up and act it out. I think Adelina made the cutest little shepherd girl! Jonas played baby Jesus of course, but we’ll just forget that little line about “no crying he makes”… ha ha!

Christmas morning itself was a little crazy, since it fell on a Sunday this year and church was at ten, plus I had a really rough night with Jonas. We did stockings first thing (which I missed), and then came back for presents after church. We also blessed Jonas that day, which was really special but also a little insane considering that there’s all the other Christmas excitement going on… we didn’t get a single decent picture afterwards because everybody was hyper or melting down or cold or… you name it. Anyway, I’ll come back to that in a later post.

Adelina totally understood the opening of presents this year, it was pretty fun. We had a slightly tense moment when her cousin opened and American Girl doll and Adelina was convinced it was intended for her… ha ha. We avoided tears though, and her cousin was sweet enough to let her hold the doll for a minute.

Adelina’s frock is one my mother’s mother made for me when I was her age, and my dad had kept it (amazing that it survived that long if you know my family ha!) and sent it to me when Adelina was born. I’m so glad she was able to wear it this year!

And then we enjoyed the rest of our Christmas break with plenty of great food (this dip mix is amazing…) and excellent company. I gave Andrew golf clubs this year so he and his brother went out for an afternoon (we definitely enjoyed the warmer weather in St George!), and he gave me a new 50mm camera lens (so exciting!!!) so I got plenty of practice in.

And of course Jonas spent the whole time being passed around from arms to arms! He had just started smiling before this trip too, so he was extra fun.

We had Christmas take two when we got back, my mom sent the kids gifts so we left them under the tree to find in the post-Christmas blues (totally a thing). I’m so grateful for FaceTime and other modern technologies that allow us to stay close to family when they’re all so far away.

And there you have it in a nutshell. Merry Christmas!