it’s been so fun to go through these photos from last christmas and remember what a wonderful, wonderful time we had as a family in our little flat in london, celebrating the birth of our saviour along with all the fun magic of santa and presents and treats. it was such a happy christmas, especially with our two little babies! here’s some photos from the christmas joy…

on christmas eve during the day, the kids and i went on a little outing to see the tree at royal albert hall. we actually got a buggy flat tire and were stranded, so we played some hide and seek while we waited for daddy to come save us!

we prepared for santa’s visit ^^ and then had our traditional “jerusalem supper.” this year, rather than cooking a big middle eastern feast, we ordered some yummy middle eastern food to be delivered. we talked about how mary and joseph and others may have felt the night before christ’s birth and had fun introducing this tradition to august and eve!

then i got to the take the boys to do our traditional christmas eve “doorbell ditch” – bringing anonymous gifts to someone in need. we had worked together to fill a few bags with goodies and helpful things throughout the weeks leading up to christmas and then had a blast dropping everything off (ian stayed home with the babies so the trip could be a little simpler 🙂 ). i love sharing christmas service with my kids.

then it was time for christmas pjs, and singing carols together with our german christmas pyramid lit and spinning.

moses and i had made cookies for santa the day before, so those were ready, and ian and i didn’t have too much assembling to do this year so we had everything set up for the next morning before midnight!

i found this note from mo stuck in ian’s stocking when i took it down to fill it up // we ate santa’s cookies and his reindeer’s carrots and we like to watch a muppet christmas carol while getting everything set up.

there’s nothing like waking up to the sound of your kids’ thrill on christmas morning! the boys tore into our bedroom with their stockings (which santa leaves by their beds!) dark and early. i tandem breastfed the babies while we unloaded those long socks and reveled in discoveries of what was inside!

then it was into the “big room” to see what else santa brought, and gosh that christmas morning joy and excitment is just the best!

after seeing santa’s presents, the first thing moses wanted to do was to give gabriel the present he had picked out for his kid brother.

and then both boys couldn’t wait to give the present they’d help me create to their dad! since the socks we gave him for father’s day with the boys’ faces on them and the shirt we gave him for his birthday with a photo of moses and gabriel on it were both such huge hits, we decided this time he needed trousers printed with photos of his kids! it was a hit – the best present of christmas this year!

of course the best part of christmas morning is seeing our kids give gifts to each other. the boys were so excited to give and receive to/from their baby siblings – it was so sweet.

a couple fuzzy family self-timer photos:

we always go to church on christmas. the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints does not hold services unless christmas falls on a sunday, so we always choose a different denomination to visit – we have been to christmas services at st. martin’s in the fields, westminister abbey, and st. paul’s cathedral. this year we went to a neighbourhood church just a short walk away from our flat. it was a beautiful (and masked / socially distanced!) gathering of christians that we all enjoyed – especially because they had a sound-proof toy room upstairs where we could trade off going with the kids to listen.

then it was back to more gift exchanging and playing at home:

we have a tradition to not clean up the wrapping paper mess until the end of the day. this year the mess was amplified by the fact that we were moving a couple weeks after christmas and had a pile of moving stuff in our living room behind the couch – haha! i just love this joyful mess.

playing with new toys as the sun started to set on christmas day:

the second best present of christmas this year was the stomp rocket that gabriel gave to moses. we brought it out to the garden in the last light of day and had so much fun seeing how high we could blast off the rockets!

then back inside for our traditional birthday cake for jesus, this year with a firework on top!:

singing “happy birthday” to jesus and blowing out the candles!:

the end of christmas day – all four kids happy but exhausted 🙂 :

on boxing day, the day after christmas, we always take a family bike ride! this year was our first year with kids on their own bikes!

a gorgeous scene on the way home:

we spent the rest of boxing day hanging out at home, eating leftovers, and playing with new toys! i made ian put on all his photos-of-his-children clothes for a photo – head to toe wright kids! (well, not quite – he did get a hat with their pictures on it for his father’s day! 😉 )

such a happy christmas, indeed.