Christmas Eve

On the 23rd, we started getting ready for Christmas at our house. We would be gone all day on the 24th, so we used the 23rd to get things cleaned and straightened and cooked so that when we got home on Christmas Eve, we could just wait for Santa.

The night of the 23rd, for our family time, Brent read the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew and as he read, the boys made these sticker pictures. When he would get to another character or event, the boys would find the right sticker and add it to their sheet.


Then we made gingerbread men to leave for Santa. Actually, these seem to have been on different days due to the different pajamas. Anyway, here they are rolling them out.

And cutting them out and putting them on the cookie sheet.

This year they were hilarious while eating their gingerbread boys. They would bite off the heads and say, "Oh no! I can't see! Where's my head?" And then it was the legs. "Oh no! I can't walk! Where's my leg?" Such boys.

So on the 24th, we got up early and opened our chain to find out we were having breakfast at Cracker Barrel! Yummy! We were there by 8:30 (a Christmas miracle!) and everyone enjoyed it. This is the first town we've lived in where we don't have a CB close by, so it is a big treat to get to go. Then we loaded up and headed to Gigi and Papack's for the day. After naptime, we came back home to get ready for Santa. We had our ham, macaroni and cheese, and green beans with gingerbread boys for dessert. The boys opened the last of our chain links and got to open their Christmas pajamas. Bathtime for everyone and into their new pjs.

Once Jon Jon was in bed, Daddy and the big boys tracked Santa on the internet. We found out he was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and headed our way. They decided to get right in bed!

We brushed teeth, read our Jesse Tree devotion, said our prayers, and were giving goodnight kisses, when Andrew said, "Aren't we going to leave any cookies for Santa?" We almost forgot! So they got up, we fixed his plate, put out our reindeer feed, and got back in bed.

Brent explained several times that they were to wait in their room in the morning for us to come get them just in case Santa was still at the house when they woke up. We'd hate to scare him off! They were snuggled in and we said goodnight again. Just a few minutes later, Coleman started calling for us, so I went down the hall to see what he needed. When I got to the door, Andrew said, "Mommy! Why aren't you in your pajamas? Santa can't come until we're all asleep. Hurry up and get in the bed!"

I'm sure you can imagine how exciting the next morning was! More to come. . .