Saturday, November 26
Britt had sent me a FB message about a local Santa and Mrs. Claus for hire, so I decided to start a new tradition and host a Breakfast with Santa for the grands. Tay and Nae were here visiting for Thanksgiving, so I scheduled it for the Saturday after. This is our year for "Family Christmas," so I thought it would be such a fun way to kick off the season and festivities while everyone was here. I had prepped as much as I could the night before, but Bill and I got up early to have breakfast ready.
We had regular and chocolate waffles with fruit, a variety of syrups, juice, and bacon. (Things to remember: the chocolate waffles were a hit so I could use more next time, and I definitely needed more bacon - I think I did 3 lbs this year.)
I think breakfast was a hit.
Afterwards we gathered everyone together to sing a few Christmas songs while we waited for Santa to come. This Santa and Mrs Claus were adorable, but definitely a bit non-traditional.
In making the arrangements prior to the visit, I was told that if I had a small gift for the kids, to put them in a bag on my front porch and Santa and Mrs. Claus would put them in Santa's Pack. I was {slightly} disappointed that they came in with the same paper bag I had put on the step. Maybe they forgot Santa's Pack {wink}?
M was a bit confused when he sat on Santa's lap, asked for a godzilla toy, and then Santa handed him a squishmallow gift. He also quickly determined that this was NOT the "real" Santa because he had brown eyes. Haha - can't pull one over on my cute Emmett James.
I LOVED this Santa and Mrs Claus.
They were so cute with all the kids, and I loved the sweet message of the Savior Santa left with us towards the end of his visit. I am hoping to continue this super fun tradition for our "Family Christmas" {even} years.
After Santa and Mrs. Claus left, we gathered for a family picture for our Christmas card. Austin is always such a great sport, and we were able to grab some really great pics. (He also gets photo creds for most of the pictures with Santa above.)
This was the winner for the cards:
After our brief picture sesh, we gathered the kids together for one more little gift.
Christmas Season jammies.
I had decided to stop doing pj's for Christmas mainly because 1) it's darn expensive as our family grows larger, and 2) several of my kids want to do a Christmas Eve pj's tradition in their own families. I thought it would be fun to get the grands Christmas Season pj's that they could wear all month before Christmas. I found the perfect pj's from Target (and it wasn't easy to find matching all in the right sizes!), and the kids all LOVED them. They were super comfy. We had them all change into the pjs so we could snap a pic. (I love how Nora Jane was feeling herself!)
Once we added the boys, some of the gang were over it, so this is the best pic we snapped haha.
Little did I know that everyone would hang around and chill for the rest of the day. The grands stayed in their pj's all day while they colored, played, and enjoyed being together.
The adults all hung around, too! We played games, visited, and CHILLED. I couldn't have planned anything better (and I actually think NOT having a plan for the rest of the day made the day even nicer). It was literally a day I hope to always remember because it was SO PERFECT.
