christmas eve

Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the whole Christmas Season.  There is so much excitement, tradition, and joy.

 

We started off the day with the best French toast breakfast in the world at Kneaders.  When we all got of the car to go into the restaurant, I saw the William was wearing this.

Haha!  We just went with it. 

 

Believe it or not, after stuffing our faces, I went to the gym.  Let's just say my stomach was all sorts of mad the whole time, but it was so worth the yummy breakfast!

 

Ben took William and Luke Snow skiing in the afternoon (another budding tradition), while the older kids and I stayed home and made treats for our Christmas Eve party.

 

That evening we went over to the Dyers for our Christmas Eve party.  This tradition started three years ago with the Dyers and the DeLoreys.  We all get together, eat Nachos and other finger foods, play games, and hang out.  We rotate houses each year.

 

The party was fun and burned some of the kids excited energy...some of it.

 

We came home and the kids opened their pj's.

 

We set out some cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer, read the story of Christ's birth in the bible, talked about the true meaning of Christmas, and then the kids "went to bed" in a fort they made in the boys room.  They were bursting with excitement and anticipation.  Oh, to be a kid at Christmas time!

Ben and I waited for a while before doing our "duties" of the night.  I drove to Midway around 10:00 to pick up our awesome surprise gift.  The snow was falling and the whole town was lit up with lights.  It was such a wondrous feeling driving through such a peaceful scene on such a special night.

I brought our special gift home, and we spent the next hour getting everything else set up.  And as usual, I got zero sleep because I was so excited to see the kids joy and excitement the next morning. Our special present may have contributed to the no sleeping as well.