Snapshots of Christmas!

We squeezed about all the fun we could out of this Christmas, and here is a whole crop of pictures to prove it. <3

More singing at church...

 Lots and lots (and lots!) of snuggles and downtime and Netflix and playing and Moxie and silliness and laziness...

 CK and Everette were SO stinkin' excited when they got surprise letters in the mail from Santa himself!!

 And we had quite a few encounters with ol' Saint Nick, yet never could convince Brooks to trust him... 

We went to friends' houses for gingerbread parties and cookie/cupcake decorating get-togethers...

My parents and (94-year-old) G Gram came into town and brought the perfect amount of smiles and giggles and Christmas cheer...

 We giggled every morning at our elf Zoombie's shenanigans...

We made our own gingerbread house, which never stood a chance...

 We baked cookies for ol' Saint Nick, with my mama's made-from-scratch recipe:

 We baked a birthday cake for Jesus, and had a silly-string themed celebration in His honor!

With the help of a dear friend from church, I managed to take the kids to the oh-so-special Christmas Eve service.  Nevermind that we had to tag team chasing Brooks around the hallways outside of the sanctuary doors while the other gave CK and E an endless amount of fruit snacks:

Per tradition, we picked up a Papa John's pizza and went to see some pretty awesome Christmas lights, a display that included - their favorite - Santa in a porta-potty...

We sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn (note-to-self, sweep it away next year before daylight to avoid the confusion... BUT WHY DIDN'T THE REINDEER EAT OUR FOOD?!)...

We ate put out carrots and cookies for Santa...

 (carrot in one hand, cookie in the other -- hashtag BALANCE)

 I let CK stay up a tad bit later than her brothers so we could sneak in some extra Christmas books in front of the fire... <3

 Finally, the children were nestled all snug in their beds...

 And then!  Thanks to some help from my village <3 -- SANTA CAME!

 Littlest dude was happy to open anything, including diaper cream:

 Tickle Me Elmo FOR THE WIN!

 E has been asking for a robe for MONTHS:

And I know food pictures are weird and kinda gross and mostly annoying, but I HAD to include my biggest win of Christmas... this cinnamon roll/french toast/slice of heaven casserole was AMAZING:

And finally... there was one last surprise hidden in the garage!

Smack dab in the middle of a very difficult, very unsettling, very emotional and exhausting and trying holiday season, we had the best, most magical, most special Christmas morning... <3