These are the days we will look back on and reflect upon - how sweet the smiles were, how long the nights lasted. Hank at 3.5 and Jolene at 1.5 made Christmas an absolute joy this year. Both of them loved to get up to mischief (undressing the tree, claiming decorations to play with, and hiding stuffed animals and other objects in the trees) but the wonder of the Christmas season was palpable.
We made time to do seasonal activities like decorating the trees together, walking through zoolights with Lolly and Pappa, riding the Holiday Express Christmas Train with the whole family, grabbing hot cocoa and driving around looking at lights, making cookies, decorating cookies with cousins, and watching Christmas movies on our projector screen together. It was a sweet season that lasted a million weeks this year (we put the tree up before thanksgiving!!) but I'm grateful to say that the exhaustion felt at the end was so worth it. I love being Hank and Jolene's Mama and creating holiday magic for them feels like such a sweet part of this motherhood gig.