I think I like Christmas Eve as much or more than Christmas Day. The excitement and anticipation, the fun last minute craziness, the candle light service at church....
So what did/do we do on Christmas Eve? The day is spent making some last minute gift adjustments because, well, we tend to be last minute people. I love Christmas Movies like Elf or Christmas Story playing in the background , although this year we went more on the side of football. Then we have supper and head to church. It was great to see all the kids together singing Christmas carols in church and watch the wonder in Ayden Jane's eyes at the candle light. Mckenna took her down front for the children's story. The pastor asked for all the kiddies to come on down. Later we discovered that Ayden Jane had loved going down front because she got to be a kiTTy. Yes, it took me a little while to make the connection!!
When we came home it was time to open the traditional one gift on Christmas Eve and bake lots of cookies for Santa. It was REALLY hard for Ayden Jane to handle the whole one gift thing. We have had presents under the tree for quite some time and Ayden Jane has been great about leaving them alone. Once she got started though she was hooked! No worries, she opened a couple others and all was well.
After we put Ayden Jane to bed with stories... of Christmas flowing through her head it was time for the rest of us to play cards. It was hilarious! It is fun now that Mckenna is old enough to really hang with us. We played a rousing game of UNO with lots of crazy extra moves to keep it moving really fast. It don't think we have laughed so hard in a long time. We kept saying 'last hand' but continued on anyway. It had to be 11 before we ever sent Mckenna off to bed. Gary has instilled an enjoyment of board games and card games and good old fashioned fun in all of our kids. He has played games with them since they were little and can manage to take any game (even if it was meant for much older kids) and find a way for them to play. It is not often any more that all of us are home and can play games together so it was a little extra special. I have a feeling that when these kids get together as adults, we just might just find them catching up with one another over a good game of cards.
All the fun of the evening gave Santa a very late start, but when has Santa ever gotten any sleep on Christmas Eve?
So what did/do we do on Christmas Eve? The day is spent making some last minute gift adjustments because, well, we tend to be last minute people. I love Christmas Movies like Elf or Christmas Story playing in the background , although this year we went more on the side of football. Then we have supper and head to church. It was great to see all the kids together singing Christmas carols in church and watch the wonder in Ayden Jane's eyes at the candle light. Mckenna took her down front for the children's story. The pastor asked for all the kiddies to come on down. Later we discovered that Ayden Jane had loved going down front because she got to be a kiTTy. Yes, it took me a little while to make the connection!!
When we came home it was time to open the traditional one gift on Christmas Eve and bake lots of cookies for Santa. It was REALLY hard for Ayden Jane to handle the whole one gift thing. We have had presents under the tree for quite some time and Ayden Jane has been great about leaving them alone. Once she got started though she was hooked! No worries, she opened a couple others and all was well.
After we put Ayden Jane to bed with stories... of Christmas flowing through her head it was time for the rest of us to play cards. It was hilarious! It is fun now that Mckenna is old enough to really hang with us. We played a rousing game of UNO with lots of crazy extra moves to keep it moving really fast. It don't think we have laughed so hard in a long time. We kept saying 'last hand' but continued on anyway. It had to be 11 before we ever sent Mckenna off to bed. Gary has instilled an enjoyment of board games and card games and good old fashioned fun in all of our kids. He has played games with them since they were little and can manage to take any game (even if it was meant for much older kids) and find a way for them to play. It is not often any more that all of us are home and can play games together so it was a little extra special. I have a feeling that when these kids get together as adults, we just might just find them catching up with one another over a good game of cards.
All the fun of the evening gave Santa a very late start, but when has Santa ever gotten any sleep on Christmas Eve?
It sounds like a wonderful time! :)
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