Christmas 2019

Even though we missed Matt a lot, we had a fun Christmas in Walnut Creek this year!

It was weird having Christmas without him, but we were grateful to FaceTime every day. And we're grateful that his year overseas is 3/4 done!

Luke had a great first Christmas. :) 

Ellen and Corey came up to visit from Orange County the weekend before Christmas since E had to work on Christmas Day. We did our family name-draw gift exchange early, hung out at my parents' house, and went out to dinner in downtown WC with the Collinses. It was Luke's first time meeting his uncle Corey!

I got Ellen to buy for this year. To celebrate their first Christmas in their new home I found an Etsy artist to paint an illustration of them in front of the house. I love how it turned out!!

And Lydia gave them a hand-made ornament that she made at preschool. :) 

My parents hosted a party for our local extended family (the Matthewses and Ucciferis). It was so good to see everyone in one place! Only got this one picture...

One night we had a mysterious secret Santa drop off all of these gifts at my apartment... Thank you to whoever was behind this!!!

On Christmas Eve, I took both kids and met Mom, Dad, and Sarah at Rosemary's house for cookie making!

Lydia has been a little nervous of Santa, and said she didn't want him to come to our house when we were sleeping (which totally makes sense, if you think about it!) At one point Grandpa Mike asked her "what do you want Santa to bring you when he comes to your house?" And she said "I want to hide in my room with the door closed!!" So instead, we left our stockings at Grandma and Grandpa's house so he could fill them there.

On Christmas Day, first thing in the morning I drove Lydia and Luke (in their matching jammies!) over to my parents' house to open presents with them and Sarah, who drove in from her house in Oakland!

We FaceTimed Matt, too. He woke up at 2am Korea time to watch everyone open presents, and opened his own stocking that we sent him!

Lydia helped everyone open their gifts ;) 

Lydia had been asking for "a pink bell" for over a month (see them in the pic above?) I think she got the idea when we read The Polar Express, where the boy asks Santa for a silver bell. Fortunately, Santa delivered!

She asked for "a pink bell" and "a pink train that goes all by itself." Matt 'helped' Santa by finding the cutest little battery-powered pink train set on Amazon. She loves it!!

Santa was also generous with Luke for Luke's first Christmas! How CUTE is his tiny Santa hat?? It's the same one Lydia wore for her first Christmas. :) 

Also, side note, I LOVE our new family stockings and am excited to use them for years to come!

Sarah gave Lydia a necklace with her name on it. Lydia said "this necklace is very special to me," and had Sarah put it on her, right then and there. And she's worn it every day since. :) It's safe to say she loves it. Sarah also gave Luke his first pair of shoes! (The ones he's wearing in the present pic above!)

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing, watching movies, cooking, and eating, Sarah and Mom took Lydia on a stroller walk to let Luke and me nap, and we drove around town to look at Christmas lights. 

So it was a fun Christmas even though we were missing several family members because of work!
Meanwhile, Barkley had a white Christmas in Utah with Heidi and Mike. :) He's staying with them until Matt gets back in the spring. So grateful for their help!

So it turned out to be a really, really nice Christmas. :) I was so glad not to be traveling and just spend time with family and my babies.

I thought Christmas without Matt would be the hardest part of his year away, but it was actually ok.

Yes, we missed him a lot. Of course we wished we could all be together. But we talked about how it's a lot like Christmases on his mission. He's serving again, just in a different capacity.

And it reminded us that Christmas gets super built up. It's another reminder that the season is really all about celebrating the birth of the Savior, the Prince of Peace.

With a newborn and a toddler and a deployed husband, I just didn't have the time or energy to do ALL of the Christmas things this year. I had to cut back on shopping, planning, gifts, events (cancelled our plans to go see The Nutcracker - it will wait - and several other things), and cut out ALL travel. And guess what. Christmas still came and was still wonderful!

Perfect? No. But that's just life! (and by the way, Lydia loved watching The Nutcracker on YouTube instead. :) )

We loved watching this beautiful video about the birth of the Savior. We think you'll like it, too.

Hoping you all had a wonderful, fun, and relaxing Christmas!