Christmas has come and gone and the post-holiday blues are setting in a bit for this girl. I hate knowing that there are 362 days until my favorite day of the year, but they always seem to fly by and knowing we’ll have Christmas with a little boy who will be walking over to the tree to open his presents next year is a pretty neat thought!
Our Christmas this year was filled with family, food, fun and lots of baby love! Ryan and I made the 6-hour drive to Jacksonville on Wednesday after he got off work and arrived at my parents’ place late in the evening. We were a little concerned about how Chase would handle it, but planning the majority of the drive during his bedtime actually worked out well and he slept like a champ in his car seat for most of the drive down south. (My fingers are crossed our drive home goes as smooth.)
When we arrived, my parents, sister and brother-in-law greeted us and we stayed up talking way too late so I felt like a bit of a zombie on Christmas Eve after a few middle-of-the-night nursing sessions with a restless baby. We weren’t sure how the sleeping arrangements would go and we’ve shuffled things around a few times, but now we have Chase sleeping in the entryway bathroom in his Pack ‘n’ Play which seems to be working well. I remember friends telling me their babies stayed in walk-in closets in the Pack ‘n’ Play during holidays, so I guess you just do what you have to do when it comes to a little one’s sleep when you’re away from home!
Christmas Eve
We spent our Christmas Eve around the house and on the beach! With temperatures eclipsing 80-degrees on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it didn’t feel overly festive in Florida but we embraced the warmer temperatures and spent a lot of time outside in shorts and tank tops.
My family also made it out to an early afternoon Christmas Eve church service (complete with complimentary cups of hot cocoa!) before heading back home for a delicious dinner followed by one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
(Chase has been working really hard at perfecting the Judgmental Baby Face.)
Every year for as long as I can remember, we’ve opened new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and this year, my mom had matching red flannel pajamas wrapped up for the women of the family!
After dinner and big bowls of peppermint ice cream for dessert, we curled up on the couch to watch Home Alone. I made it about 20 minutes into the movie before I started to fall asleep, so I put myself to bed nice and early which ended up being a good decision since Chase had us up at 5 a.m. on Christmas morning.
Christmas Day
Ryan and I hung out with him in bed while he cooed, squealed and kicked up a storm. He was quite a vocal little Christmas elf! Ryan and I have a tradition to exchange our stockings and gifts to each other before everyone else is up and apparently Chase knew about this plan and had us awake with plenty of time to spare.
Eventually everyone else was up and about around 7 a.m., so Christmas officially kicked off with monkey bread, cheese puff casserole and hot coffee. We dug into our favorite Christmas morning dishes while we opened our stockings before transitioning into the living room to exchange gifts by the tree.
Sadie found a pretty good spot to soak up all the Christmas cheer…
Chase had a lot of thoughtful gifts to open from his grandparents, aunt and uncle and I helped him out with the unwrapping since his skills are limited to drooling and squealing at the moment. I think I was even more excited than Chase was for his Eric Carle-themed gifts since I loved his books as a kid.
So far the stuffed Taggies Monkey and Baby Einstein Octopus seem to be Chase’s favorite Christmas gifts!
The biggest surprise gift of my family’s Christmas went to my mom. My dad surprised her with a beautiful new mint green beach cruiser bike!
She was thrilled and already took the bike down the beach in search of shark’s teeth. (She found three on her first trip out!)
Before all of the present-opening fun was over, we had one more tradition to uphold! The Pickle Present! Every year, my dad hides a pickle ornament on the tree and my sister and I rush to see who can find it first. Whoever finds it first receives the pickle present!
I’ve been the pickle champ for four years running (and I think I was a little TOO proud of this fact), but this year my sister beat me!
In my defense, the pickle ornament shrunk significantly in size this year which had all of us cracking up when Leslie plucked the tiny ornament it off the tree.
I’m planning to make my comeback next year, so you better watch out, Les!
The rest of our Christmas was pretty low key and involved a walk with the dogs around the neighborhood, an incredible beef tenderloin dinner (I must share the recipe with you guys in the future!) and dessert on the couch followed by a viewing of Christmas Vacation, our family’s favorite holiday movie.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend and a wonderful Christmas if you were celebrating on Friday! I am still in Jacksonville this week so my blogging may be a bit sporadic as I try to fit it in while also enjoying time with family and friends. I hope to check in when I can! Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your Monday!
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
Stop! That picture of Chase in the middle is priceless.
Aww such beautiful pictures to remember Chase’s first Christmas 🙂 The one of Leslie and Chase all smiley is beyond cute and you look amazing. Hoping that your car ride back is smooth and that you have a wonderful last few days with your family.
I love the one where his butt says “First Christmas.” So sweet and you can show it to all his friends when he’s older.
I’m loving all of the photos of Chase! Such a cutie… and his Christmas Day outfit is hilarious. <3 Enjoy the week in Florida and soak up some extra time on the beach for me, will ya? xo
I live in Jacksonville! I am loving the weather today! A warm Christmas is kind of strange though! I hope you have a great week down here!
What a fun Christmas! I love all the pictures of Chase!! We play the find the pickle game too!
Where did you get the floral dress from? It’s really cute!
Thanks! The brand is Journey Five and I got it from Zulily for $25!
How do you and Leslie look so fabulous on Christmas morning!?! Your hair is beautiful! I had my hair up in a ponytail for the second year in a row! Safe travels home!
What a fun Christmas! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Yay! I love Christmas too!! That bike your dad got your mom is awesome! Merry Christmas!
Aww your Christmas sounds like it was amazing!
We have a pickle ornament tradition too!!! ( A big one!)
Your Christmas pictures are amazing – what a wonderful thing to look back at in the years to come!
Looks like a wonderful Christmas was had by all! Strangely, we have exactly the same traditions, but this year, my dad found the pickle and won wine tasting chocolates. I guess you could say wine is a tradition in our family, too. Ha!
Thanks for sharing!
Sounds like an amazing Christmas, Chase is adorable! Our family watches Christmas Vacation every Christmas Eve, it’s the best!
Flannel, In Florida? Ikes.
Love the jammies! Yes, my Mom told me it was hot in Florida over the holiday weekend! I was in LA and San Diego with my husband’s family, and we also wore jammies on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I tried some fabulous sweet thing called Swedish bread for the first time, which is like a cinnamon bun. So good! Beautiful pictures, Julie! Enjoy your time in Florida this week! 🙂
Where did you get your dress from? I LOVE it!!
Zulily! It’s super affordable, too! Only $25. The brand is Journey Five.
Aw such great pictures!! Hope your week with family continues to be relaxing and fun! I bet its nice having some helpers around with Chase!
It looks like you had an amazing Christmas, Julie! Chase looked so cute (as always) in these pictures. I loved Sadie’s sweater too 🙂 Happy New Year <3
You guys are adorable 🙂 I love your mom’s bike! So fun! It was -18 here this morning…that’s pretty festive, right? 😛
Aww such great pictures. I love the family traditions!
What GREAT photo memories of Chase’s first christmas!
We usually get new pyjamas but me and my mum caved and started wearing them before Christmas…have to say it kind of ruined it! Definitely have to wait next year! I LOVE those flannel ones!! Home Alone is a Christmas must! Chase is so cute, love the nappy! Is that actually on him?!!
We used to have the christmas eve pajama tradition when we were growing up! Mostly it was so we would look cute for christmas morning pictures! I’m definitely going to start that tradition back up when I have kids!
LOVE your blog, I am seriously a daily blog-stalker 🙂 I am so glad you all had a very Happy and Blessed Christmas!!!
p.s. Where is that floral dress from?!?!?!?! ADORABLE!!!!
Thanks! It’s super cheap! I got it for $25 from Zulily and the brand is Journey Five. 🙂
What a lovely Christmas! And im with the others, would love to know where your floral dress is from!
Your dress- ADORABLE!
I love love love love your recaps, Julie! They are my favorite posts. I was worried that the blog would be a bit more difficult to read since we are entirely different phases of life now that you’re a sweet momma, but I found I still enjoy it so much! You just have this way of making me feel like I am chatting with my best friend! Love it. <3
Any way, just wanted to pop in and say I still love pbfingers!
Thank you so much, Julia! <3 This means a lot to me!
I love the pickle prize tradition! Since I have three young cousins, our family cheats these days and has a separate pickle for each of the four of us, but it’s still a fun thing to look forward to!
Aw! What a nice Christmas you guys had! I love all of your family traditions.
I also love how photogenic Chase is!
Enjoy your time with your family and safe travels back home!
What a memorable Christmas! Little Chase is getting so big and smiley – I love it! You look beautiful in your floral dress … and your plaid PJ’s are too cute!
I’m feelin’ the Christmas blues too, but I love reading your holiday recaps, because they help me relive a bit of the magic from that day. Love the matching plaid pajamas, they are SO cute! And I love your mom’s bike! Now *I* legit want a mint green bike, and I’m due for one, so I might have to make this happen somehow.
We spent Christmas Eve and day in the hospital (boo!) taking my dad there for an emergency (he’s okay now, but it was not a merry Christmas for him or us, but it’s merry now that he’s going to be ok!). I’m happy that New Year’s Eve is right on the heels of Christmas, so that they’re is still something very holiday-like to look forward to, and that helps a bit.
Cheers to more joy for everyone this coming week.
I hope everything is okay with your dad! <3
Thank you! He is doing okay now, but he gave us quite a scare! It turned out to be a gall bladder thing, and he’s gonna be all right (but he had a stent (heart) put in just a week ago after another ER trip, so we were worried!)
Love the pj’s! My sister and I tried to that this year but quickly realized everyone must do that because there were none left haha
i love the pickle present idea! I want to make moments like this for my family one day,
Lou
naturallybeige.com
xxx
Such a great Christmas! Chase looks adorable! Love those red flannel pj’s too. Your Mom does so well with those.
Looks like so much fun!! I love the matching pajamas and the Pickle Ornament Tradition is such a cool idea! My sister and I would have fun with that too. 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your time in FL!
Those PJs and that pickle ornament are just too adorable! Such good family traditions for Chase to be part of as he grows up. We also had a warm Christmas – in Connecticut!
We had the exact same pajama tradition growing up! It was the one gift my sister and I got to open on Christmas Eve, and even though it was always pajamas and as we got older we knew that, my mom always tried to pretend it would be something else. 🙂 She doesn’t do it anymore, but I’m definitely going to start it for our daughter!
I LOVE the matching Christmas pajamas! AND the dog sweaters… adorable! I’m glad you had a great Christmas.
You always look so adorable Julie. Love your dress. The pickle too cute. Chase too cute. Love our Moma’s bike. Sadie though sitting on her Gpa stole the show for me. Too cute!!
So sweet!! Merry late-Christmas, Julie!!
I love the Pickle Present idea. Brilliant!
What a fun Christmas! Your mom looks very excited about here cruzer?
Where did she find your cute pajamas? I want to find some for my Hubby and I for next year!
Happy New Year!!
Love Chase’s My First Christmas pants! So cute!
Wishing you a very Happy New Year!
You girls look so cute in your Xmas jammies! What an awesome gift (the bike) for your mom! As I was reading this I realized I forgot to have our kids search for the pickle ornament on our tree this year! LOL!
Such a lovely post. Your picture are stunning and it all looks very organised for a First Christmas! Christmas has an entire new meaning now with a baby… Just a special lovely time. If you fancy a read here’s my post on our first Christmas as a family – http://bedazzledbaby.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/my-little-christmas-pudding.html?m=1
Happy New Year and look forward to reading more of your posts