Christmas in the Room

We finished the Christmas spreadsheet this past weekend, and it's honestly felt like I just finished finals week. But maybe that has more to do with the fact that I had to give a powerpoint presentation for the first time in who knows how long on Sunday. The boys and I are now at my parent's house in St. Louis, and it feels nice to get away and catch our breath! I logged off of work for the next few weeks, so my "down time," which I usually put towards work, can now actually be down time with family.

When we celebrated Christmas just the 4 of us this past Saturday, that's what it really felt like: down time. We didn't do presents until the late afternoon, so most of the day was just a lot of quality play and quality time in the kitchen, taking time to really slow down. One thing that I've liked about being so busy with activities this Christmas season (whew) is how little brain space I've spent on gifts and decorations. In fact, our tree is in such a sad state with the number of ornament casualties we've experienced this year. But it's been a really fun season of setting our time and attention on experiences and people outside of our 4 walls.

That being said, we welcomed a day to just be in the house, focused on rest and restoration as a family.

There were so many normal, every day things from this day that I was so excited to capture while we had the camera out. Our beats sessions, for example.

Atticus's "cheese" that is equal parts adorable and startling. 

 When I had first mentioned the idea of matching PJs, Atticus requested pjs with trucks on them. So glad we were able to find these at Target!

 Toe and finger tapping to a song in his head. 

Prepping cookie bags for a few neighbors.

 Can we all agree that kids presents are the most fun to wrap? I love having big boxes under the tree. 

We got them each an instrument so that they can "marching band" together. I think that gifts that foster creativity are my favorite kind to give. 

 Playing along with my trusty uke, because I've just never been able to commit to a relationship with a guitar. Good news, Christmas song chords are super easy on a ukulele. ;)

And finally, the gingerbread house. (Which, shout out to Aldi for having a super user-friendly kit.) Since we were heading out of town a few days after we made it, I told Atticus we could eat it after dinner the next day, which he proceeded to do with style.