A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS - 2021
I love looking back on the holidays and seeing the highlights from the season. It’s fun to see the boys expecting to revisit old traditions each year and experience excitement as we introduce some news ones. We started the Christmas season a bit earlier this year by stringing up our lights outside before Thanksgiving. We had the time, the weather was warmer, and we knew how busy things would get on the other side Thanksgiving.
In typical Payne fashion, we were out the day after Thanksgiving picking out our tree, putting up our decorations, and filling the house with Christmas music.
Just for fun, here’s a list of some of the things we did this Christmas:
Finding “Click” our house’s Elf on a Shelf each morning.
Went out to eat for the first time in what seemed like months to one of our favorite local restaurants The Irish Rover.
Spent the day at Bernheim Forest with the boys hiking, exploring, and finding all of the forest giants.
We made homemake ornaments. We got extra creative and make some of our favorite characters from Bluey and Monster’s Inc.
One of our traditions each year is making homemade gifts for our friends and family. Sometimes these are ornaments, pictures the boys paint, or some other craft. We always have a blast drinking hot coco, eating cookies, and listening to our favorite Christmas albums.
Here in Louisville, they have an event each night in December call “Lights Under Louisville.” It’s a light display underground inside of the Louisville Mega Cavern. The boys love finding their favorite displays and looking out the windows as we drive through.
Because you can never get enough Christmas lights, we drove around to some nearby neighborhoods that go all out with their lights and decorations. We grabbed some food on the way and ate dinner as we enjoyed the festivities.
We also like making some Christmas crafts that we use for decorations around the house. This year we painted wooden Christmas trees that we’ll use for decor for future Christmases.
It had been a very long time since we went to the movies together as a family (probably 2019). We saw two movies over the course of one week (Spider-Man No Way Home & Sing 2).
We baked some of our favorite Christmas cookies together.
Each night we celebrated Advent together before bed. We sing a song, light candles, and read together.
On Christmas eve, we always watch Polar Express together. We set out cookies, popcorn, and as many snacks as possible and build as much anticipation as possible for Christmas morning.
We’ve put together a short video highlighting the Christmas season with our family along with photos that capture some of these special moments. I hope you enjoy revisiting these moments with us.
| Credits: Author - Jacintha Payne; Photography - Jacintha & Calvin Payne|
I always look forward to our annual Christmas photoshoot. I enjoy capturing photos from our days and take a lot of them. :) But it’s actually pretty uncommon for all of us to be in a photo together at the same time. I love that each season of life is documented in some way. Each year, our photo has a story to tell along with it. 2020 hit us hard like so many others, but our joy, closeness, and love for one another is fuller, stronger, and greater than it ever has been. I love seeing this captured in these photos…