So, anyway, the night before Christmas DID come! We had been waiting for it for so long! At least it felt that way with all the talk of treats, family gatherings, Santa, reindeer, and warm cozy Christmas pajamas!
JC's family has a tradition of gathering at his grandparents' house on Christmas Eve and this year we joined them for the festivities. Each great-grandchild was to bring a treat of their making so JC's mom took the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with each of the kids. Since Thanksgiving, she has had Bethany and James both over at different times to make up some cookies to freeze and have for the party. Since Ben is not quite interested in being left without mommy and siblings for very long, she came to us one evening to help him get some cookie dough made as well!
Yum.
In other preparations, on Christmas Eve morning, we cleaned the playroom to ready it for new additions. We rewarded our efforts with a kids' yoga session via the DVD player.
It's been a while since we've done it and turns out James no longer likes to sit out!
By late afternoon, we were ready to go celebrate with family.
The kids dig in to present opening time with Grandma Teri.
Ben gets some help from Daddy.
As Bethany does from her cousin Brittney.
James got this little dog house with a stuffed dog and a book inside. He carried it around with him most of the evening.
A happy camper!
Ben found a little pinball machine belonging to his cousin and tested it out. He didn't know how to work it, just liked making the ball shoot around.
James also spent much of the evening doing this - admiring the trays of treats!
Those peanut butter cookie with the Hershey Kisses stuck in the middle were the ones he helped Grandma make!
Ben has a soft spot for his cousin, Colton. He kind of followed him around a lot. Here, the two of them plus JC's grandpa sit and enjoy various new toys together.
Brittney and Bethany spent a lot of time with dolls over near this little singing angel. They would push the button and make her sing, then dance their dolls around. It was so cute.
At some point, Brittney lost interest and Bethany just kept right on going...over and over.
And once she moved on to something else, Ben stood mesmerized by the singing angel.
Then took over in the 'dancing dolls' department.
This singing angel was a big hit. I'll have to figure out where I can get one!
James, as usual, spent a lot of time carting around a few select toys.
The kids had fun interacting with everyone and enjoying some yummy dinner and treats. Once we were getting on towards bedtime, we packed up and headed home for a couple of last Christmas Eve type things.
Separating of kids from new toys they had received so they could sleep, a family singing of "Away in a Manger," carrots out for reindeer and
Cookies for Santa.
We took the time, once the kids were down, to clean up in preparation for the morning and fun day that was to come, cover our bushes and trees to protect against frost, and enjoy a little downtime together.
After a while, we discovered that the kids were like this:
Which is when this all happened:
I love the magic of Christmas Eve.
I already can't wait for whatever next year's December 24th holds!
2 comments:
I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas this year!
I notioed the cute picture you posted of the 'mostly' eaten carrots from Santa's reindeer and it reminds me that a couple years ago, I left some 'reminants' of cookies and carrots to prove that they had been munched on and when Hunter saw them he got all sad and said "Santa and his reindeer forgot to eat ALL their food!!" I almost died laughing... now Santa makes sure to clear his plate. haha :)
I love the cool tradition your kids have making treats with Grandma... what an awsome idea!
i'm totally going to take pictures of my kids sleeping next year! those were GREAT! i felt lucky our kids crashed so easily. they were tired from the events that night as well. what an exciting night, huh??
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