Jason had been up until 2am building Lena’s Christmas gift and Aksel had fussed at me through the night so Christmas morning was slow to get going. We finally headed downstairs around 9 am where all the presents had been carefully laid out in front of the tree.

Lena immediately spotted her prize – a vintage style kitchen. Her face lit up as she came into the living room and told us, “I sure like that pretty kitchen, guys!” When the grandparents had asked what to get for Christmas this year, we mentioned we were doing a cooking theme. They went overboard outfitting our little chef with everything from felt food, pots and pans and even a Lena-sized apron.

While Lena got down to business “cooking” for Jason and Aksel, I made BoBerry Biscuits from scratch. They were even more delicious than last year and I loved that we had continued our little tradition from the year before. Adding to our special breakfast, we drank milk out of the mugs we had picked up at a German Christmas Market in Birmingham. Lena loved that it was little and had pretty “dars” or stars on it.

After stuffing ourselves full, it was on to stockings. As always, Santa had filled our stockings with oranges, candy, socks and undies and a special magazine for each person. Lena was pretty excited about Aksel’s magazine as it had some Thomas the Train toys on front so we let her read to him. She actually had picked out the magazine earlier in the week but somehow didn’t remember much to my surprise as she has the brain of an elephant.

Wanting some family photos, I set up the tripod Jason bought me last Christmas and used the remote control to capture us in all our pajama glory.

We had planned to have a very small Christmas with just a few gifts – we actually bought only the kitchen and a little tool set for Lena. Jason and I had agreed not to buy anything for each other but luckily, I knew better than to believe him and picked up an electronic kettle for him at the last minute. Of course, he had bought something as well – an iPod adapter for the car – despite his claims to the contrary.

One of the most random gifts was a pack of Frozen Band Aids from my cousin, Laila Eva. Lena went crazy for them and I am probably going to steal that idea for future kid’s gifts. It was super practical but also fun (Lena thought they were stickers and asked that we put one on her ankle) and the styles are endless so they could work for any age.

A big thank you to all of our family for sending such generous gifts. Everything from clothes to books and plenty of toys – we are truly spoiled and loved. We wish you all could have been here to enjoy the holiday with us and see Lena’s excitement over everything. Hopefully these photos captured some of that for you! We love you all and look forward to all being together sometime soon!