Christmas

This year was the first time in 29 years that I did not wake up at my parents' house on Christmas morning. It was a little bittersweet, but we are ready to start some traditions of our own now that we are settled and the kids are getting older. Ben and I did a lot of baking this year. I am taking advantage of his love for helping me cook - I am sure it will not last too many more years! We decided that making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning was a tradition that we definitely needed to start.

We also had a lot of fun driving around looking at Christmas lights. I pumped the kids up for the big event all day and we ate pizza at our favorite pizza place before picking up Ben's first Starbucks. He was pretty excited about his hot chocolate and Ella enjoyed her vanilla milk. From there, we headed to The Chateau, which is a hotel here in town that resembles a castle. Ben is convinced that Mickey lives there, and they did have nice Christmas decorations, a fireplace, and a fountain inside. After that, we drove around neighborhoods ooohing and aaahing over all of the lights. On the way home, I was on a Christmas high thinking about the "magical" evening we had just experienced. And then reality set in. Ben had a meltdown as we pulled into our house because we did not have many lights on our house. We got the kids upstairs and ready for bed, and then Ella puked all over herself, Carl, and her chair as he was giving her a bottle before bed (lesson about the hazards of drinking too much milk definitely learned!). What wonderful memories!

Ben was excited about his stocking and presents from Santa. All he wanted this year was candy canes, and Santa did not disappoint. He left a small candy cane on each of Ben's presents!

My side of the family came over for Christmas breakfast. Ben sat and guarded the rolls while we finished getting everything ready!

Great-Grandma Myers and Aunt Carol

Nana, Aunt Carol, Grandpa

During brunch, we went around the table and shared favorite memories of Grandpa Nelson and Grandpa Myers. Feeling left out (and needing a little attention!), Ben started making up some pretty funny make believe stories.

We headed over to the Beagles Christmas later in the afternoon. Santa made a special appearance this year. It was pretty cool that he was able to pass out the gifts that Grandma Beagles had picked out for her great-grandkids before she passed away.

We attempted on 2 different days to get a picture of the Drake cousins in their matching jammies. We proved that getting a good picture of 10 kids 7 years and under is impossible!