Christmas with Grandpa

Of course Magnolia has the REAL Santa for pictures. Fox loved seeing and Santa and sat on his lap happily, Finn was hesitant and Sweden was obviously scared. Scared but it's still adorable!

 

Santa at church.

 Finn with his friends and his teacher, Mrs. Gallardo at school. He put on such a great Christmas show in his pjs with his class!

 

 

Our tradition is to give our kids their Christmas pajamas the night we decorate the tree. The boys were so excited for their glow in the dark pjs- dinos wearing Santa hats and space ships. 

 

My dad joined us for Christmas this year and I am so glad he did.  It would be his first Christmas without Mom and I wanted to make sure he had a wonderful time and felt her with us.  We put a stocking out for mom and put some of her favorite things like flowers and butterscotch in it, along with notes from each of her children saying something they remember about her.  It was special to read those Christmas morning and to feel her presence.  I was a little scared to have my dad come for Christmas, knowing it would be hard to see him without my mom, they have always been attached at the hip. However, I was able to have some good conversations with my dad and even read through some of her journal entries, for that I am grateful.

 

We took the family to Morgans Wonderland for ice skating, fake snow, rides and Christmas lights. It was such a fun evening and the perfect weather for pjs and snow hats. 

 The Fosters joined us for Christmas Eve, we reenacted the Nativity, sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and exchanged presents. We gave our kids their yearly Christmas ornaments. Finn received a lego snowman inside a globe, Fox received a dinosaur, and Sweden received a shoe because she loves all of her shoes and moms shoes.