Christmas 2022

I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone. After all those weeks of build up and now we are onto a new year. Since I wasn't around much after Christmas, I am just now getting to sharing our Christmas Eve, Christmas day and one snap from the day after. 

Christmas Eve was spent making breakfast, then making pizzelles, getting ready and having dinner at my in-laws house.  By the way, the pizzelle maker was awesome along with the pizzelle recipe. It takes more time since there is only one press, but they cook within two minutes and was super easy to use. I made two batches which was enough to bring to my in-laws, our family and my parents.

Here is a photo dump of Christmas Eve.

My FIL's neighbor told the girls that you must place water on the roof for the reindeer, so my FIL set it up on a ladder and made a sign with some tape.

After we got home, the girls wrote letters to Santa (asking for his signature), put out a carrot, two cookies (I forgot to snap a photo before Rory had his) and some holiday nog.

The girls got this sign from my in-laws. At their house, we put Merry Christmas Santa and then I changed it to this (from Santa).

We went to bed pretty late as we were watching a show and had a lot to do after the girls went to bed.

Christmas morning the girls were up bright and early which was different from the previous year where they slept in. We got everything ready (ie coffee and the fire going) and then we opened gifts.

These are the earrings I got for them.

I didn't get a ton of photos of us opening gifts, but I did get a long video of the girls reading their note from their elf and taking Christmas morning all in. 

After opening gifts, we put some things away and started breakfast. I had made a breakfast casserole the day before and I just popped it in the oven. Sutton had waited too long to eat and wasn't feeling well. Once we ate, she was back to herself though. 

Rory and I enjoyed some champagne with brunch.

Then we got ready and headed down to my parents house for Christmas dinner and opening presents.

Rory got some Kittle socks that he was super stoked on.

We had a traditional Christmas dinner with my parents, my sister, BIL and my nephew plus us four. We haven't done that in years and it was so awesome. We enjoyed some homemade egg nog from my BIL, some mulled wine from my parents and played with my nephew all evening. 

Then we headed home to be with Walter.

Walter's new sweater.

One of my presents from Rory.

We put more gifts away after we got home and then the girls went down as we had another big day the next day.

We went to my uncle and aunts (by marriage) house in Truckee and had brunch plus sledding, dinner and hang out time. It was a lot of fun!

And that's a wrap on Christmas 2022. How was your Christmas weekend?

Christmas Pajamas for Kids

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes. 

I recently bought Christmas pajamas for my girls from their elf. With shipping delays and wanting to make sure I got things by December 1st, I bought early. And since I did a bunch of browsing, I thought I would share what I found and what I purchased.

When it comes to pajamas, I usually shop at Old Navy, Target, Carters, Hanna Andersson, and Gap. And that is where all of these come from.

Do you get yourself and/or your kids pajamas for the holidays?

Top: Green Trees | Multi Trees | Ornaments | Holiday Houses | Fair Isle Deer | Cindy Loo Who

Middle: Deer and Candy Canes | Holiday Baking | Green and Red Fair Isle | Plaid Nightgown

Bottom: Santa | Truck and Trees | Santa and Reindeer | Green Reindeer | Multi-colored Fair Isle

So which ones did I buy for the girls this year? The Deer and Candy Cane ones (first one in the middle row). I almost got them the baking ones since they love to bake. Also to note: I bought them a size 8 so they would have room to grow in them and just in case they shrink up a bit.

The girls already have the Santa and Reindeer (bottom row, third set) ones which they received last year. I bought those in size 7 last year since they are tall and they were pretty short after washing and drying them for a month. So size up in them.

In the past, we have purchased them through Old Navy and Target. Those are my go-to's, but if I find Hanna Andersson on sale, I grab them.

And here is one for your pet. How cute is this? And it comes in many different prints. I think Walter needs one of these.

Pet Christmas PJs

Happy shopping!

Christmas Recap

I wasn't sure how many people would be around last Friday (New Year's Day), so I saved this post for the week after. I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. And so has the New Year. Let's hope this year is kinder to us. Last year was a doozy.

Anyways, onto our Christmas recap!

Our Christmas started on Christmas Eve. Rory and I had to work and we had the girls home with us. The girls spent the morning in Rory's office watching Christmas movies while I worked from home and made the sugar cookie dough. Once they got home, they watched more movies at home and then we made sugar cookies together. I never got a picture of the sheet of cookies, but know that we made about 2 dozen and decorated 1 dozen to share with their grandparents and Santa. 

After making cookies, we headed down to my parents house to have Christmas Eve dinner with them! We had Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower, garlic bread and homemade pumpkin pie! We were all stuffed and had the best time with my parents. I just wish I had got more photos, but I was too busy enjoying time with my family.

We headed home and set out cookies, milk and some bourbon for Santa and sprinkled reindeer food outside for the reindeers.

Then the girls went to bed and we had some treats for Santa. Once the girls were fully asleep, I got to work being Santa.

Then we went to bed. The girls slept in til just after 8 am. They were tired from the night before, so it was nice to let everyone sleep in. Rory and I had coffee made and a fire going and were talking for quite awhile before the girls got up. But once they were up, they wanted to open presents and more presents. This is just a glimpse at what our morning looked like.

We all got some pretty amazing gifts and were very happy this Christmas season.

After opening gifts, we had to open many boxes, toys and American doll gear. Then the girls played and I made waffles and Rory made bacon. Plus we enjoyed some mimosas. After breakfast, we watched a bit of A Christmas Story and then I made homemade rolls for dinner. As those were rising, we all took showers and got ready for Christmas dinner. 

We headed over to my in-laws house for Christmas dinner. Both Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner were spent with just our parents. Low-key but it was amazing! So much quality family time.

We had prime rib, lobster tails, roasted veggies, salad and rolls. Then we had a Yule log for dessert!

After dinner, we headed home so full and happy.

How was your Christmas? 

Christmas This or That

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

Last week, Bri had a This or That post and I thought it was cute. I had fun reading her answers and wanted to answer them myself. Thanks for the inspiration Bri!!!

1. Home Alone or A Christmas Story?

This is a very hard one. I LOVE both movies and we have watched them at least 5 times this holiday season. BUT I think I have watched A Christmas Story more and I have a tradition to watch it Christmas Eve night and then all day Christmas Day. 

Plus I bought this cute shirt as I love the movie so much.

A Christmas Story Shirt

2. Hot coffee or hot cocoa?

Easy...hot coffee. I LOVE coffee and drink at least one cup a day. Usually more. And hello, my blog is called Sparkles and LATTES.

3. Gift giving or gift receiving?

I love giving gifts. Growing up you love receiving them, but as you get older, it is so much fun to see the look on other people's faces when they open up something that you hand picked for them.

4. Holiday pies or holiday cookies?

Another tough one. I love pies, but I think I love cookies more. I have been baking sugar cookies a lot since November and we will be baking them again on Christmas Eve!

5. Grinch or Elf?

I again like them both, but I would probably choose Elf over Grinch unless I get to watch the super old school cartoon Grinch.

6. Real tree or fake tree?

Real tree all the way. Growing up, we had a fake tree for awhile, but then we started cutting ours down each year. This is the first year that I have had a real tree and a fake tree.

Here is our Christmas tree this year.

7. Ugly Christmas sweater or Christmas PJs?

I have both, but I love a good ugly Christmas sweater. I have a Griswold Christmas sweater that is my absolute favorite and I wear it yearly.

Christmas Vacation Ugly Sweater

Our Christmas Outfits

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

I love shopping for special day outfits. So when it got closer to Christmas, I started looking for outfits for the girls and then a bit later for myself. I found the cutest Christmasy dresses for the girls and then added tights from the same place (H&M) and the shoes were part of their Christmas gifts. My girls love shoes, so I try to buy them multiple pairs for their birthday/Christmas gifts.

As for my outfit, I got it on major sale. I got it for $23.50, normally $118. I paired it with some Vince Camuto pumps that I already had. 

Rory usually wears something from his closet, so I didn't include him in our Christmas outfits. But I do give it to him as he will try to pick out something that matches or goes with our outfits.

Plaid Dress  |  Pumps

Red Sparkly Dress  |  Gold Tights  |  Black Patent Ballet Flats

A few notes on the girls outfits. The red dresses have a sparkle to them, but they do not shed glitter or anything. The fabric just has a sparkle to it. And that goes with the gold tights too. They are not glittery. And I got the patent ballet flats on sale for $6.99 plus 5% off for using my Target card.

Our 2020 Christmas Card

This has been quite the year hasn't it? Nothing has been normal. We usually get professional family photos done in October or early November, and I am ordering my cards during the Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales. But this year...nope. 

Ok, some of it yep. We did not take professional family photos. We got dressed up two different times and had a cousin take some photos of us. The first one was a disaster. The girls would not look at the camera, they were purposefully closing their eyes and they were just not having it. To be fair, they wanted to just play with their cousins and not take photos.

The second time I bribed the girls were dessert and play time with their cousins if they could just take a few good ones. The second time we got it. And we pretty much wore the same outfits each time.

So here is our 2020 Christmas card!

Pretty good, eh? The girls are looking at the camera and their eyes are mostly open. We have smiles, look happy and got it done.

And here is a look at year's past Christmas cards.

2019

2018

2017

 2016

 2015

2014