I wanted to share more photos of what the holidays look like at my home this time of year. Christmas eve began this year with a lot of snow, but that wasn’t going to stop us from our annual tradition of going to see Santa at the local mall. We’ve gone to see the same Santa for years and the kids look forward to our visit with him. In the early years they would allow parents to take their own photos, then they began only allowing you to take your own photos if you also purchased one of their packages. However, the last couple years you cannot take any photos at all…this bums me out a bit as I’ve loved the images that I was able to take in the past, but we wouldn’t pass up the chance to go see Santa.

After we got home, I continued with my holiday baking and got out my mom’s tins to make my mom’s aunt Helene’s recipe for Sandbakkels (Norwegian Almond Cookies). My kids didn’t help as much with these as they did with the Spritz cookies and my cookies didn’t turn out as pretty as my mom’s always did…but man did they taste good!

Throughout the day we did a lot of NORAD Santa tracking and the kids love checking out where Santa is and how far away he is from our house…it sure does help when it comes time for bedtime.

After dinner we continue with our yearly traditions and the kids get to open one present each under the tree. After this many years, it comes as no surprise that the items in the box are from their Grandma Carol and are holiday pjs. They’ve always been given matching Hanna Andersson pjs in the past but this year they’ve almost all grown a bit too tall, so this year they got some adorable Old Navy pjs with warm and cozy monkey socks.

After they quickly shower and change into their new pjs the kids settle down and listen as their dad reads Twas the Night Before Christmas…by now the kids know most all the words and they’re so excited, but they try and calmly listen. They try 🙂

After the story is read and the milk and cookies and carrots are out by the fireplace, they say goodbye to Markus the Elf and goodnight to us and head to bed. I don’t know how long it takes for them to fall asleep…I remember it being tough for me to fall asleep when I was a kid. In the morning we usually need to wake them up…and Jarrod usually needs to wake me up as well. So Jarrod holds the kids at the top of the stairs while I head down to check to make sure Santa arrived (and to get my camera ready) and then the come running downstairs…

The monkey bread goes into the oven and the gameday hash gets started just after the kids finish going through the things that Santa left for them and then we begin to open presents from grandparents and from mom and dad and our secret Santas. This image of my girl below I just love as she’s wearing a ribbon around her head like a hippie and then her new American Girl doll cowboy hat that she got from her grandma…she’s quite thrilled about her morning so far.

This picture below shows a very excited little boy opening a lego set…he was beyond excited as you can see. I love looking at these photos of Christmas morning…I love seeing these own types of photos of my own life and seeing the little details in the background that tells me about our life at this exact moment. I love that you can see Max as a thrilled and overexcited little boy and then you can see his calm and quiet side just minutes later. I love that I can see the cookie plate and cup in the background. That you can see Max’s special blanket and sock-cow and giraffe. I love the ornament with my Max’s handwriting of the multiplication tables. I love my daughter’s messy hair and that she decided to put a ribbon around her head. I love that my oldest has Twinkle sitting by him as he opens his gifts. I love all the little details…even the crazy post Christmas mess.