Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is such a magical day.  I have to say that it is the best day of the year for me.  I remember being filled with so much excitement on Christmas Eve as a child.   Now that I am grown and have children of my own the magic and excitement is even more special.  When I think about Christmas Eve this year 2 words come to mind... pure happiness.  I was filled with joy to see the presents for my children under the tree, knowing that times are tough for many families.  I thought back to the first few years of our marriage when we could hardly afford the gas to drive up to Utah for Christmas let alone any presents.  I was filled with gratitude that I have a wonderful husband and three little boys that I love, that I have a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and his humble birth, that we have a lot of family to love and share the holidays with, and for their health and happiness.  Add all that to seeing my children bursting with Christmas excitement and that makes for a Christmas filled with pure happiness.  

We started the day by meeting my parents for an early showing of the new Disney movie Tangled.  That is my new favorite movie .  I was so impressed by the story line and how well it was made that it brought tears to my eyes!  I am a nut!  

Then we came home and made sugar cookies for Santa...

I gave the boys some sugar cookie dough to play with, which we did not use to make the cookies with:)

That evening we headed over to Rob's parent's house.  They have a lot of Christmas Eve traditions that our kids love.  They always hold a talent show and Liam played the piano, Lance sang Rudolph the red nose reindeer, and Lincoln showed us his skills by clapping, waving, pointing to his head and nose, and wiggling his feet.

Rick's talent was giving 4 grandkids a back ride.

Rob's Dad always makes the boys serenade the girls with a Christmas song - Rob dreads it every year.

I played the piano for the nativity program

Lance was a shepherd

Linc was a wise man

Liam was a shepherd

We always go around the room and say something nice about the person next to us and then we tell them our wish for them in the next year. 

All the grandkids received silk pajamas from Elaine's trip to Singapore this Fall...

Lance would not put them on until we told him they were Kung Fu pajamas - then he started doing kung fu tricks for us....

During the whole drive home the boys were looking out the window for Santa.  Once we got home we read The Polar Express and The Night Before Christmas, then we put out the cookies for Santa.

We also threw out some reindeer food.

Luckily the boys went right to sleep so Rob and I were able to relax and watch some t.v.  It was such a fun night and we could not wait for Christmas morning!