A Tiny Holiday Re-Cap

Such a fun holiday season this year!  We intentionally downsized on the gifts, we had more experiences together as a family, we spent lots of time enjoying each other and the awesome friends we've been blessed with.  It was good.  It was what it's supposed to be.  Christmas with less "hype" is the way to go, in my humble opinion.

We still kept the essentials in there.  Reading, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve...

Leaving cookies out for Santa -- and carrots for the reindeer!  Although, a new tradition we started this year was to leave out cookies made by Grammy Gale for Santa, since half the house can't have gluten anyway and baking seemed a stressful, pointless tradition to focus on!

I set a fancy table that would have made Martha proud, and Andrew made an amazing Christmas Eve dinner.  The best part was who we shared it with -- some of our neighbors who have become good friends to both us and our kiddos.

Oh, and there was a Christmas tree made of butter -- which really is the most important thing.  Fa la la la la!

We really downsized on gifts this year, too -- keeping the kids to a few presents from Santa, and just 4 gifts each from us.  We went the whole "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" route for their gifts from us -- and it was so much fun!

Want: Legos, Need: Snow Boots, Wear: Personalized Shirt, Read: Books - obviously!

The kids were happy with the downsizing and Andrew and I both have said it was one of our favorite holiday seasons in a long time.  Less stuff, more appreciation for each other.

Oh, and a puppy.  We got a puppy for Christmas!

His name is Archer, and he's absolutely adorable.  The kids are in love with him.  Sophie...not so much.

This was truly a fantastic Christmas season for our family -- hopefully for yours, too!

We're sad to see it go, but we are excited for the great things that 2014 is going to bring our way!