Christmas Favorites

Happy Friday!  It's been a fun, festive week over here.  We are packing in the holiday fun while school is virtual and trying to do as many normal things as possible although many of our favorite traditions are different this year.  We're doing our best to stay positive, remember to focus on the miracle of Baby Jesus this time of year and make memories with our kids.

We visited the biggest Christmas tree in our town this week.  It's huge.  The kids loved seeing this real tree.  It was so fun.  

Lots of attention on the baby at Christmas.  As it should be :)

These two were cracking themselves up "driving" Santa's sleigh.

Doing all the first Christmas things for Leo has been our favorite.  We're introducing him to our favorite traditions, showing him the magic of Christmas and squeezing him into things his siblings wore.  This was Olive's outfit & Fletcher's Santa hat.  His blanket is never far behind.  He's 8 months old now.  He's the sweetest chunk.

Not to be left out, our favorite kittens - Penny & Pearl - are loving their first Christmas as well.  This tree skirt seems to be their favorite spot to cozy up.  They're v interested in batting the lower ornaments on the tree, drinking the occasional fresh pine tree water and have yet to climb any tree.

We had a really good week of school at home this week.  It's not our favorite thing - we all miss real school in person with teachers and friends, but we are making due at home.  We're also praying hard that schools will reopen ASAP in 2021 here.

We're baking lots of our holiday favorites.  Christmas brownies & cookies this week!

My kids love when we do Duplo challenges.  I give them a theme and they have to build something to go with that.  Then they present their builds and I judge them.  It's tons of fun.  Here are there favorite Christmas tree builds from the week.

We celebrated St Nick's Day and everyone woke up to their favorite candies in their shoes.

Christmas pjs will always be my favorite!

We made gingerbread houses at home this year.  We opted for a village of tiny house instead of one big house.  They turned out so cute although they seem to have a little less candy on them every day.

The board of my local MACC Moms group worked our tails off these last few weeks planning a drive thru holiday party for all of our moms/kids.  It was amazing!  All of our planning paid off.  We got to see all of our friends in person, from a distance, pass out holiday treat bags for moms and kids and spread tons of Christmas cheer.  It was wonderful!  I'm so glad we figured out a way to do it to wrap up this crazy year.

Late nights with the cats is one of my favorite times of the day!

Did you see our cinnamon roll Christmas trees from earlier this week?  We'll probably have these several more times before the month is over.

My last favorites are just simple, sweet moments from our week.  

Olive is the best helper and big sis.  Her brothers drive her nuts at times, but she really adores them.  We were playing outside this week and she was helping me with Leo.  I look over to see her singing, dancing and cracking Leo up.  She caught me watching, struck this pose and said, "Nothing to see here!"  It made me laugh.  I wish I could freeze time with her at age 7.

The big kids love these scoot boards.  They zoom all over the house on them.  Who knew how quickly Leo would learn.  He crawled over to it, plopped his belly down on the board and proceeded to push himself all over the house.  It was hilarious, impressive and slightly terrifying because he's just 8 months old.  He's got to keep up with those big kids.

Loads of extra time in our pjs snuggling, watching movies and playing.  I hope those are the things we remember when we think back on 2020.  We've never spent more time together than this year and I am glad to say we've enjoyed it.

This is Leo's preferred distance from me... within touching distance.  Preferably being held, holding hands or snuggling.  He's teething big time and that's highlighted the fact that mom is still his favorite.  I don't mind one bit although a little more sleep would be super.

I hope your week was filled with lots of favorites, too.

We've got some fun plans on the calendar for the weekend.  I can't wait!  Check back next week to hear all about it plus a Christmas house tour and a little Christmas food and craft inspiration.  

Linking up with Momfessionals Friday Favorites today.