When It's Over, It's Over

As fast as Christmas comes each year, I feel like its gone just as fast.  I can't believe only 3 more days left of 2014!  We have loved enjoying this Christmas break from school and the lazy days spent at home with the kiddos.

Gracyn is really into her American Doll right now and asked for some matching outfits for her and the doll to wear.  Its pretty cute but Santa must not have noticed that the outfit he got for Gracyn's doll is a little difficult for her to manage on her own so Mommy has been dressing the doll constantly over the past few days.


Walker is slowly getting used to playing with boy stuff.  Ha!  This kid is all boy.  He runs full steam from one place to the other, haphazardly throwing things everywhere along the way, and often biting the people who try to stop him.  He is a silly, goofy, driven, strong-willed little boy who keeps me running constantly all day long.





"Mommy I told you I could feed myself." Yep you nailed it buddy, using two spoons, just like we all do to eat yogurt.  I am telling you this kid is STRONG willed.


And apparently Avery has morphed into a 12 year old overnight.  She is so sweet and kind and has been really helpful over the break.  She has had fun seeing her friends and playing with all her new toys.


Sadly we packed up all the holiday decor yesterday and to commemorate the occasion I thought I'd post a picture of our 2014 Christmas card, which I adored this year.

Christmas Day 2014

Santa was very nice to us this year and left us lots and lots of goodies.  Matt and I woke up early to take a quick picture, make a coffee (or two), and take it all in before heading upstairs to get the kids.

Avery was awake, obviously, and said she woke up because she was so excited at 5AM and was patiently waiting for us to come and get her.


Walker was the next one awake at 6:30AM, he had no idea what the fuss was all about but was happy to partake in a few early morning selfies to commemorate the day.


As always we had to wake up Gracyn at 7AM so we could all trek down to see the tree together.  After dressing Paige, her American Girl, she was ready to roll.

Whoa!  A tree FILLED with goodies!

Walker was pretty excited about his big boy tool shop.

And the girls LOVED their personalized desks so much!  Santa sure knows what he is doing!

Macy closely observed the situation and as always sat right in the middle of all the action.

Walker lasted about 5 whole minutes before he started screaming "millll!" which means milk so he got to sit for a snack break while we continued opening all the gifts.

One of my favorite moments of the whole day was opening gifts that Avery had hand-picked for all of us.  Unbeknownst to all of us Avery had gone around her room and very carefully picked out the most thoughtful gifts for all of us.  She gave Gracyn two necklaces (from her own stash) that she knew G would love, she gave Daddy two paintbrushes so he could "paint the fence any time he wants", she gave Mommy some colorful Crayola nail polish and she gave Walker a book about dinosaurs.  It was so thoughtful and you could tell she had really put thought into each gift.  Not sure I've ever teared up over nail polishes before but I sure did that morning.

Walker had a great Christmas.  As predicted he had more fun playing with the bows than actually opening the gifts but he loved running around like a wild man and playing with all his new gifts after they were opened.

Mommy posing with her new jewelry that the girls hand-picked especially for me.  Blinged out cross necklace and earrings?  Perfect for Mommy ;-)

Gracyn must have been good this year because Santa brought her the toy she asked him to bring- a stuffed Olaf pillow doll!

Again another snack break for Walker.  Christmas is pretty exhausting!

Avery must have been good too because she got her #1 gift from Santa- tickets to see Frozen On Ice!

Attempted group pic.....

Then the girls set up shop if front of the show to "get to work" at their desks while we watched the parades before getting ready to have Christmas lunch at my grandmothers house.


Merry Christmas from the Winston girls!



Another attempt at a group pic.  Fail.


I spent about an hour and a half of Christmas lunch doing this.............



which is just about the best Christmas gift ever.  I could rock this sleeping baby all day long.  He was so exhausted from all the pre-Christmas madness that he just pooped out.

We had such a great Christmas spent with family and friends.  I love these traditions with my family but most of all spending this time together honoring the birth of His son.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2014

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is so fun-filled and packed with traditions that I had to break it into 2 posts, plus I have a billion adorable pictures to share.  Christmas Eve started with our normal tradition of baking and decorating cookies for Santa....plus a few for ourselves also ;-)

We were blessed enough to have Nana and Papa come over to help us prepare for the big night.

These girls were so excited about every single thing this year and it made everything so fun and so special.  I love the ages all the kids are at this year and wish I could just freeze them right as they are right now.

After perfecting all the sugar cookies we changed into our holiday duds and got ready for Christmas Eve service and attempted a picture of the kids and as many of you can relate getting a good, normal-smiling, picture of 3 kids is nearly impossible but I think we are getting closer.  Haha.

The Winston Family Christmas Eve 2014

The little guy must have been saving all his good smiles until he got into the arms of his beloved Nana.  I'm telling you he only has eyes for her these days.

And I think the feeling is mutual ;-)

Family Picture

Then we headed off to church with the whole crew.  On Xmas Eve at our church they have child care for preschool and below, which meant Avery got to attend the service with us and it was so amazing to sit together and worship the birth of Our Savior with my oldest girl who is just growing so fast.  She was in awe of the songs, the lights, and seemed to really listen and soak up the service.  It was possibly my most favorite part of the day to sit, sing and worship with her.


Candlelight service at the end.  Always my favorite part every year.


After church we headed home to eat a yummy dinner and then put on our jammies and go look at Christmas lights.  We always go to the same area and it never disappoints.  At one point the girls just busted into "Jingle Bells" and were giggling and pointing at all the amazing lights and I teared up because they joy that they exude is contagious and so precious.


Then it was home to spread reindeer food on the lawn then drift off to sleep so Santa could come!

And boy did he come this year!  He left lots of goodies for everyone and we were all spoiled rotten by Santa this year.