Christmas Day Recap!

Now that we are done with the 2nd Day of Christmas, aka Boxing Day I thought I would do a recap! We had such a lovely, wonderful two days. Christmas, even with a teenager is still magical. It is so funny because sometimes, this "in between" time where they aren't really kids anymore but they aren't grown up are the times when we have to work harder to make it even more magical than we did when they were little.

My kiddo's birthday is 10 days before Christmas. She just turned 15, she is loving being "Santa" and giving gifts, but she is also still obsessed with the magic of Christmas as if she were 5. So...here is our recap of Christmas...

Breakfast

Since our kiddo is older, and there is just her we get up and have coffee and breakfast first. No presents are opened, just stockings. I've found this helps to extend things and gets the anticipation high!

Gift time.
Once breakfast has commenced and is cleaned up we begin opening presents. We guess at what we think it could be and then open.

Guessing first gets everyone involved and puts the spotlight on that gift.

As you can see for the kiddo her favorite was her Nike Air Force One's and her guitar. Due to having to replace her laptop for school in early November since it is a required item and being treated to an iPhone 6 when we started a new contract in the Netherlands. Christmas was smaller than we would normally make it, which I think made these two gifts all the better.

The Nike's she'd been asking for for months and I told her after her laptop she would just have to do without. I had these things in the closet for over a month, it was killing me not to give them to her! haha

YES!!!! hahaha I think this is the best one!

She has long been a music lover and had been asking for a guitar for months. This was a last minute purchase (thanks to a lovely woman on Marketplaats) and has brought her much joy. She is great at teaching herself to play and has devoted a few hours everyday to playing it.

For hubby, his favorite gifts were his Assasin's Creed Unity jacket and his Sandalwood shorts.

The jacket I found at this great store called Pop Cult on the Kalverstraat. Being a video game producer you can never have too much video game apparel and this is such a different item.

The Sandalwood shorts were a gift from my mom to him. Totally unexpected, as that is his old high school where he played basketball all 4 years of his high school career. He is very nostalgic about his school and was excited for this to be a surprise item!

As for me, no one ever takes pictures of me opening gifts, I need to change that next year! haha my two favorites are the special edition plum compact from MAC and this necklace my parents got me.

The compact I found months ago at MAC but didn't treat myself too...not sure why just didn't want to splurge so for hubby and the kiddo to remember that meant a lot...plus, look how pretty and sparkly it is!!!

It is also so versatile. With my brown eyes these are great day colours in the top row and fantastic night colours in the bottom.

Plus, look at the new brushes the compacts come with! I love the blender...I will never lose this thing! haha

This Brighton necklace from my parents is a gem. The background is topaz, my birthstone and the back says:

...which is me completely. To find something that described me so well and to buy and send it to me really meant a lot.

After opening gifts I did my daily workouts: Cardio Recovery. No photos but woke up boxing day with sore ribs and back!

After that we got dressed and headed out to dinner and to the movies the movies.

We went out to the Bijlmer ArenA area, they had some adorable Christmas Decor up and hubby and the kiddo were goofballs as usual.

Dinner was at this great little restaurant called Mamaris....check back Wednesday for the in-depth review! It was fantastic and just what we needed for Christmas Day!

After dinner we decided to treat ourselves to Unlimited Gold Passes at our local theater.

We did this for a couple of reasons: 1) we have a teenager that is constantly asking for money for movies so this will resolve that problem 2) we never go to the movies because they are so expensive, this eliminates that 3) hopefully this will help hubby deal with not having a proper surround sound and a 60" television.

So far we've seen The Hobbit in IMAX 3D and Mockingjay, Part I. Totally worth the €26 a month!

When we got home we decided to cuddle up and watch The Santa Claus and drink cocoa...

We ended with the lights off enjoying the glow of the tree...

How were your holidays? What do you celebrate this time of year?