Cousin Christmas

  Phew, my heart is full! My parents, brother Zach, and his daughters (Peyton and Helena, who just turned seven and five) were over on Saturday for us to celebrate a mini- early Christmas/ St. Nick's Day, playing games, opening a few presents, and baking a pumpkin loaf. I am big on celebrating with a handful of people. Probably because that's how it was when I was growing up. We always had our cousins over or drove to their houses for the summer or holidays, or we all met up for a beach trip with our grandparents! To me, the holidays just don't seem complete without a bunch of people around. 

  I love getting to spend time with Peyton and Helena and see what they are like as they continue to grow up, and hear the things they say or the questions they ask. I got a chance to "babysit" for a short amount of time while my parents and Zach went to get lunch. The girls stayed with me and made cards for Emma using markers and washi tape. I love how their creations turned out, I continued to verbalize their talents, and later we taped them to the wall in Emma's bedroom. 

 

 

  One thing I laughed at was when I was reading Peyton's card to Emma, one part of it said,"Peyton is your best cousin", and I asked her if that meant if she was a better cousin than Helena. She kind of made a face like, "Why did you say that out loud?" Then she looked at Helena and quietly replied to me, "I think she heard you." Later when my mom went to read the letter, Peyton told her not to read it out loud either. Haha. But it was sweet when she said she was making the card because, "I want Emma to remember me." They even helped mix Emma's formula when it was time for her to get lunch.

  After lunch (Michael was home from work by this time, yay!), we passed out all the presents that I had under the tree for them, as well as a bunch of presents that my mom brought for us. We made note of which presents were for St. Nick's Day that we could open then, versus which presents needed to wait until Christmas Day, but we won't all be together then. Last year we video chatted with Michael's mom and NaNa while we opened presents and I liked that a lot, since they were celebrating later in the day. I really liked that, and it made the day extra special. I hope we can do that again this year. (I don't have a link to add for that because I didn't blog about last Christmas, in 2020! *Gasp!*)

  I was really happy that my mom got everyone to stay a little longer so we could make the pumpkin bread together. They left before I put it in the oven, so I didn't get to share the results with them. It was pretty good, but I still think the Starbucks version is better, and I was using a copycat recipe. Next time I'll add more sugar! ;) But after they left, I was still smiling, almost giddy. It was a really good day.