Chrissy Teigen on Why She Loves Spending Christmas in Jackson Hole, Wyoming: 'My Happy Place'

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen are having a holly, jolly Christmas in the mountains.

PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive and the Cravings author are celebrating the holiday by spending time with their children, Luna, 3½, and Miles, 19 months, far from L.A.: in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Now that Christmas is over, Teigen, 34, shared on Instagram just how glad she is that they brought the family up North for the holidays, writing a love note to Jackson Hole on one of her most recent posts.

“I have found my happy place here in jackson hole [sic]. I feel like a new person,” she wrote. “Feeling pure happiness and joy and especially appreciative of being shacked up with a view of the mountains and the pure, cool air flowing through the windows.”

“Feeling like my kids are currently theeee perfect age, keeping me on my toes and seeing their new found personalities and active little minds shine every day,” she continued. “I just love it here and love my family so f—g much ❤️🙏🏼 I mean life is cool in LA and all but this…this is heaven on earth.”

The cookbook author shared the caption alongside a photo of herself with daughter Luna, both smiling and cuddling on a couch, presumably in the home they are staying at in Jackson Hole.

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In the hours leading up to Christmas, Teigen shared a video of a real-life Santa Claus running through the snow outside of the house, with screams of delight from the children in the background.

“I see Santa Claus! Oh my God, I saw Santa!” Legend says in the clip, as Luna excitedly jumps up and down at the sighting of the elusive gift-giver.

“Merry christmas to you and yours ❤️” Teigen captioned the video. She later shared a photo of Miles wearing a snowman outfit, writing alongside the cute snap, “hello has anyone seen Santa.”

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The surprise visit from Santa garnered a lot of attention on Instagram, prompting several other celebrities to comment on the post.

“I’m actually dead,” wrote Vanessa Hudgens, while Jaleel White added, “the dedication 😂😂😂👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽”

“I. Cannot. Deal. 😂👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼❤️❤️❤️❤️” Jenna Dewan wrote.

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Luna was already preparing well in advance for a visit from St. Nick, “writing” him a letter with marker in an adorable video Teigen posted to her Instagram feed on Dec. 7.

“Dear Santa,” the little girl began while covering her paper with the red marker, “give me a ballet dancer [doll] so I can sleep with her every day. Love Luna Stephens every night.”

Miles got into the Christmas spirit, too, “helping” his mom cake cookies in a Dec. 15 video that showed him lending a hand in cutting shapes out of the dough. “Can you push?” Teigen he instructed her son, who instead pulled the metal star shape right out of the dough, causing it to break apart.

“Yay, oh good … job, yay you did it! Oh yeah, it’s perfect,” the Lip Sync Battle host hilariously told Miles.

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Teigen and Legend celebrated Thanksgiving with family too. On her Instagram Stories, the mother of two shared photos of daughter Luna playing with her cousin and Teigen’s sister Tina, while Legend helped his mother, Phyllis Stephens, study.

Teigen also posted photos of the family’s Turkey Day dishes, writing, “Let’s begin,” over drumsticks she was cooking. Helping Teigen in the kitchen were Luna and her niece, who sprinkled cheese over a casserole.

When it comes to this time of year, particularly Christmas, Legend recently revealed to PEOPLE what the typical celebration at their household entails.

“For us, the holidays are always about food, and family, and music and I feel like all three have been the most important and most memorable parts of our holiday celebrations,” he said. “And we’ll continue with that with my kids and with Chrissy and we often have our family come spend the holidays with us, our extended family.”