Christmas Day 2013

Kyle and I decided before we were married that Christmas Day would always be spent at our house with our little family.  We didn't want to have to worry about going places or being stressed out about travel and this and that on Christmas, and now that we have Audrey, I'm glad we made this decision.  We have a few Christmas Day traditions that we got to introduce to Audrey and we're quickly making some new ones!

Tradition #1:  Christmas Bacon

In the four years we've been married, we've ALWAYS had fancy bacon on Christmas morning for breakfast.  In the past we've bought expensive bacon from the store, but the last couple of years we had our own bacon in the freezer from having a hog butchered.  Kyle really peppered it up and cooked it extra crispy on Christmas Day.  I have insisted on cinnamon rolls in the past, too, but this year we felt so desserted-out that we skipped cinnamon rolls.

Tradition #2:  Video-taping

I'm pretty certain we've taped every Christmas except 2012 (and maybe we did tape 2012, but we can't find it).  We've had a video camera the entire time we've been married, but until Audrey was born, the only time it really saw the light of day was at Christmas.  I sure am glad we have it, though, and I'm glad we taped the other Christmases, because it was fun to watch and reminisce.

Tradition #3:  Stockings First

I never had stockings growing up, but we have them now!  Even our cats share a stocking!  We usually have just put our favorite treats in the stockings, and this year was no exception.  Kyle always gets a package of Andes' Mints, I always get chocolate-covered cherries, and the cats get kitty treats.  We were stumped on what to do in Audrey's stocking this year, so we actually put one of her presents in instead (more on that in a second).

Tradition #4:  The Four Gifts

We are really trying to raise our children to understand the true meaning of Christmas, so Kyle and I would like to not give many store-bought gifts to our children or each other for Christmas.  I know from experience that as a kid, Christmas to me was all about the toys.  I know as a parent you can only help that so much, but that's one of the bigger reasons why Kyle and I decided to NOT believe in Santa Claus at our house.  To us, Santa represents getting presents without understanding why or necessarily earning them.  We don't want there to be any question about where gifts come from and why they are given to us in our house.  So, instead of an outlandish number of presents, we decided to borrow an idea from a family that we know (this will guide our gift-buying for each child and keep the presents at a minimum).  This idea/guideline comes with a little rhyme that I think is just wonderful:  "You get something you want, something you need, something unique, and something to read."  I'm sure over the years the four items will be more expensive, but we stuck with the basics this year, since Audrey's pretty easy to please.

Year one of implementation:

Something Audrey wants...new cute bibs!  We splurged a little on this set.

 The something she needs is a bank savings account.  Obviously no picture of that (a note describing this was in her stocking).

Something unique...kitty bank!  And thanks to her grandparents, Audrey is already Miss Moneybags!

Something to read!  This makes a total of 9 Curious George stories on her shelf!

Audrey with her presents from us.

Tradition #5:  Couple Presents

Kyle and I usually just decide on a spending limit for each other and try to stick to it.  Here's what he got:

Batman toiletry set and...a machete.

Yeah...no idea why he really wanted a machete.  But he did, and I found one at Harbor Freight for like $5.  He hooked it on to his belt and wore it around for awhile after he opened it.  I wrapped it in an enormous box, and Kyle spent all of December trying to shake it and guess what was inside.

He's so happy!

The machete is now under our bed as part of our "home protection system", which also includes a baseball bat in our closet.

Kyle got me the DVD/blu-ray Little Mermaid combo set.  No pictures of that since I was controlling the camera.

Tradition #6:  Movies and Naptime

We always have time for a Christmas nap on Christmas Day.  Since we're not planning on going anywhere, we can sleep all day if we'd like!  And we did!  Audrey spent a total of about 5 hours awake on Christmas Day (chalk it up to all the traveling), so we pounced on that chance to sleep like ugly on an ape.  We also watch movies on Christmas :)

Oh, and!

To top it all off, Audrey had her first laugh on Christmas Day this year.  She laughed three times while I was singing "Rudolf" to her and twice while Kyle was throwing her in the air (got it on tape!).  Best Christmas present EVER!