Christmas Eve

We had a lovely Christmas Eve. Ez was able to work out his schedule so that he didn't have to leave for work until 10:30 at night, so once he was awake, we had dad the entire evening.

The morning was rather relaxed, we all cleaned up around the house and then the kids had free time. When Ez woke up I ran to Target for a few last minute purchases, and then it was time for the fun of the evening to begin!

The evening was nice and relaxed, with only one hang up--the garbage disposal ate too many potato peels and they jammed the pipes (I will not divulge the perpetrator). So, while we were finishing up all the dinner preperations, Ez saved the day and emptied out the stuck pipe. Luckily it was a pretty easy, not too messy fix. Dinner was yum--we had ham, shrimp, salad, mashed potatoes, and rolls.

In keeping with long running tradition, our evening included the kids getting new pajamas, followed by the reading of the story of the birth of the Savior in Luke 2 and reading the Gift of the Magi (which mom cannot even listen to without crying, and she has heard it yearly her whole life). Lily was rather tired and was nearly asleep on the couch when our reading had finished, so we all sat and chatted until she was having a peaceful slumber.

We decided to let the kids open one family gift (we bought a number of games for the family this year), and had a lot of fun playing Doodle Dice. By the end of the gaming and the eating of dessert, the kids were luckily rather tired and went to bed easily. Ez headed off to work, and Jane and I set to wrapping and wrapping for quite a while! I also had to finish the girl's aprons I was making for them and by the time it was all finished and wrapped and the mess cleaned up and everything in front of the tree, it was nearing 2 a.m. once more. I need to do better next year in making sure I am done with things earlier!


Evie shook her gift upon receiving it, copying what the kids have been doing the past few days!


The pants were insanely long, but easy enough to trim


David


Lily is thrilled with her Camp Rock jammies


Alexis


The gang


Finally ready for the morning!