The Baden Family: Christmas 2016

We had such a fun Christmas! As I said in my previous post, last year was so hard. Lydia was a newborn. I was nursing around the clock, Scott and I were exhausted, and we were all still trying to adjust to being a family of four. I felt like last year we just went through the motions. This year wasn't easy by any means, but we were able to enjoy it so much more.

Things definitely got off to a rocky start for us as we tried to leave town for the farm. I ended up with a 103 fever the night before we left and couldn't get any packing done, so we were scrambling the next morning to get packed, loaded, and on the road. It was incredibly stressful. The kids were crying and clingy the whole morning, and Lydia fell and hit her head on the bathtub while I attempted to take a shower. In the frenzy to get out the door and on the road, the kids didn't get good naps or real food. I seriously tossed crackers at them all morning to keep them occupied while we tried to load up. We planned to leave at 9 am, but I think it was 1 or 1:30 pm before we pulled out of our driveway. Lydia slept maybe 45 of what turned out to be a 3 hour drive, and Jacob not at all. Lydia was so tired, that she crashed on the living room floor for about 25 minutes. If you know this girl at all, you know she wakes at the slightest noise. She was exhausted before we even got started!

As soon as we got to the farm and unloaded, it was time to turn around and head to Blowing Rock for the family Christmas party at Chetola. By this point the kids were exhausted and extremely hungry - not a good combination. They were also not happy to have to get back into the car for another 45 minute drive. As we pulled into Chetola, they were crashing and burning. The stress-level heightened when there were no kid-friendly food options. I was so mad at myself for not packing something for them to eat. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time I have peanut butter sandwiches with me, but in the whirlwind of the day it just didn't happen. Luckily, I was able to figure out how to get some mac-n-cheese and the night was saved. After the kids ate, their moods dramatically improved and we all ended up having a really fun time!

The next day was Christmas Eve! Jacob was so excited about Santa, and both kids took a few peeks up the chimney.

We also enjoyed some Christmas music from our very own brass parade band.

That evening our family stayed back at the farm while the rest of the family went to a Christmas Eve service in Boone. We decided it would be better to have a low-key evening. We also didn't want to make the kids take another long car ride after all the driving we did the day before. We put out reindeer food, cookies and milk for Santa, and read the Christmas story together. It was hard for them to go to sleep that night. Jacob was so excited about Santa, and apparently Lydia was too. We couldn't get her to go to sleep and stay asleep until midnight. Whew!

Jacob got very upset when Lydia tried to sample Santa's snack!

Finally...CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

Jacob was so excited to see if Santa had come the night before! He almost busted while waiting to go see the stockings and tree! Apparently, Grandaddy was pretty excited, too. He woke up early and fell asleep under the tree while waiting for the kids to wake up!

I'd say opening the stockings was the highlight of the morning! Jacob and Lydia were delighted to pull out all their little treasures. We could have stopped after stockings, and they would have been totally content. Who needs presents when you have goldfish and chocolate? :)

This is what Christmas burnout looks like...

We all had matching jammies this year!

We need to take a minute to fully appreciate this picture. Grandma, Grandaddy, and I had a time trying to make this happen! Every time we found matching sets that were cute and affordable, they were out of stock for either men or women. Then when these arrived, we found the men were sent the wrong pant sizes. It was finally all straightened out and the result is a super cute looking group! :)

It might be time for Uncle Michael to have a stocking upgrade! Haha! :)

Christmas Day was filled with presents, yummy food, time together, and of course music! Jacob was delighted to play the trumpet with Daddy and the other guys!

Lydia passed out Christmas night!

After a fun couple of days at the farm, we headed home on Monday. Santa came to Fletcher, too! While celebrating with the huge family group is great, we also always make a point to have our own little family celebration at home. We save all of our presents to the kids and to each other for this time. We were out of cookies, so Jacob set out a plate of tropical flavored marshmallows for Santa instead.

Stockings were a big hit again!!! In fact, when I asked Jacob what his favorite Christmas present was, he said it was the reindeer pez dispenser he got in his stocking. I guess that was the best 99 cents Santa spent!

After our family Christmas, we dressed up to go see gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn. Unfortunately, the resort was at capacity and not allowing non-guests to enter. We ended up eating Mexican and riding the "step-a-lator" (escalator) at the mall.

This was also our wedding anniversary! We are planning to have a date night in January to celebrate without the kids. We were going to go out this past Friday night, but a snow storm and vomiting kid made us postpone our plans.

On New Years weekend we celebrated Christmas with my family. On Friday we spent the day at Meme's house. We had so much fun with more presents, lots of yummy treats, and time with Baby Wade!

In other news, I trimmed Jacob's hair for the first and last time at Meme's that day. He was growing a rat tail, and his hair was covering his ears. I tried to just shape things up until we can get to the barber shop, but I ended up cutting right angles around his ears!

The following day we celebrated at our house with Papa! Jacob was giddy when everyone started arriving. He greeted each guest with a hearty, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" You'd think he'd get tired of all these Christmases, but not a chance! :) We even managed to get a few cousin pictures.