Twas the night before Christmas

It's hard being away from family for the Holidays. Especially when you are so use to being surrounded by lots and lots of family. Chris and I wanted to make sure that we made our Christmas Eve fun and exciting for the kids so they didn't feel like they missed out even if we were far away from our usual fun family activities.

Our Christmas Eve started with a surprise breakfast from Jimmy. He got up early before the kids woke up (which in this house is earlier than he would have liked too) to bring special fixins straight from the North Pole.

The kids were pretty exited...

Especially when they saw that it was a breakfast full of sugar. ( No wonder Santa has a weight problem) He did manage to squeeze in some fruit.

They think that Jimmy is pretty much the bees knees when it comes to elfs. They were sad it was his last morning at our house. 

Addison didn't care at all for the doughnuts and went straight for the fruit. She is my kind of girl.

We made a last minute present decision and Chris spent a good portion of the day buying and then hiding said present. (which will be explained in the next post)

Christmas Eve we ordered pizza and had root beer floats. This was far from what my intended plan was, but after stressing about time and making "the perfect" dinner, Chris pointed out that the stress of it all was ruining the whole idea of our fun family day and the kids would prefer pizza over ham and Augratin Potatoes anyway. So Christmas Eve dinner was pushed to Christmas dinner and pepperonis were enjoyed all around.

After dinner we opened our new Christmas jammies and got to work making Santas cookies. Our grocery store was sold out of red and green M&M's and they were a must have for the cookies so I bought a bag or regular M&M's and Kaden and Taycee went to work separating the colors.

One of the most favorite parts of the night was the impromptu dance sessions to Pandora Christmas music. The kids were spinning we were all laughing and for a few minutes it didn't even seem like we were that far away from home.

My cute Boost

Cookie and Christmas Jammies what more could you want?

They also got slippers to go with the jammies.

After cookies we ended the night talking about the Savior and the Holy Night that it truly was. I was so impressed with Kaden and Taycee's sensitivity as we retold the wondrous circumstances that surrounded that silent night. Every year I am overcome with joy and wonder as I think of the thoughts and emotions that must have been in the hearts of us all as we watched our Savior be born that night. I am sure I was just as grateful then and I am now that he came to this earth to fulfill such a selfless and divine purpose.

With Kisses and Cookies the kids were off to bed so Santa could get to work. (and work he did til almost 3 am, next year all toys will come assembled) There was an extra magic to the eve as it was our first time being Santa on our own. We were giddy as we set up each new surprise and we imagined the look on faces when they discovered the treasures Santa had left. When we finally fell into bed exhausted from the day I felt content (even if it was for only 2.5 seconds before I passed out from exhaustion).

Christmas Eve had been a success.