Christmas Eve

What a great holiday we had this year!  The main reason it was so great is that David had some time off.  He was able to take both Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas.  We COULD have used those days to spend our holiday in Idaho, but we didn't.  For one reason, that would be a TON of stuff that we'd have to haul up and back - with seven people, even a few small presents add up quickly.  The other reason we didn't go to Idaho was because David was very adamant about wanting to spend his vacation days doing absolutely NOTHING!!! I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical at first.  I could just see the kids getting on David's nerves and him locking himself in his office, leaving me alone the whole time, but it didn't happen that way at all.  We actually had a wonderful, peaceful, happy long weekend.

Christmas Eve was downright balmy this year.  Seriously - like in the 50's.  I woke up early and hit Walmart for one or two last minute things, then I planned on staying home and getting everything ready for the impending celebrations/meals/parties/etc.  However, I had severe abdominal pain  that put me out of commission for most of the day.  Between Dave and the girls, however, everything that needed to be taken care of was handled.  They even went out and raked up the last of the leaves.  David said it was definitely the first time in his life that he raked leaves on Christmas Eve.

Dave and Jenny's family came over to visit us in the afternoon.  That was when we were favored with the play put on by Paige, Alison, and Nicole.  Seriously, I was impressed by how hard they worked on it, the costumes, props, lines, etc. They did a great job!

The evening festivities started with the neighborhood caroling party in our circle. This has been a tradition for decades, I believe.  It was extra nice this year because the weather was so warm.

David has his back to us because he's using the firelight to read the lyrics.  

Three cute carolers - Ali, our friend, Klarissa, and Nicki.

If you're looking for Bronson, check the table with hot chocolate and homemade suckers.

A not so good shot of the whole crew.  Josh is the boy kneeling down in front.

When we finished caroling, we hopped in the car and went to Grandma Church's house for dinner.  As always, it was fun to see many of our relatives and as always, there was a TON of food!  My uncle Mike read the nativity story from the scriptures and we all sang Christmas hymns for a while.  It was very festive.

Ash, Meg, Al, Paige, and one of my cousin's boys (who wore a vampire cape for the party - loved it!)

Uncle Mike reading from the Bible.

We came home fairly early and the kids opened their PJ presents from Grandma and Grandpa Gee.  They LOVE this tradition!  Each kid got two pairs of pajamas.  The girls were thrilled to each get a set of "footies" - you know like the footed sleepers babies wear. I think they would drive me CRAZY but the girls love them.  The boys PJs were funny and cute, but the winner by FAR was Quin.  He got some Santa's Elf PJs.  He looked so adorable I could hardly stand it!

This is Quin's version of peek-a-boo.

Once everyone was dressed in their pajamas, we settled down on the couch and watched the Church's video depicting Luke 2.  Then it was off to bed for for the kiddos so they could start their visions of sugar plums.  Dave and I got to work cleaning up and getting ready for Santa's visit, but even we were in bed around 10:30 or 11:00 pm.