Christmas Eve

This was the first time in the last 4 years that we had Christmas at home.  Usually we get to spend it with either my parents or Rob's parents, but we were under the impression for so long that we would be moving in December, so we figured we wouldn't be able to have a Christmas vacation that year and we spent Thanksgiving with my parents instead.  Since we knew we wouldn't have any family around to celebrate with us, we invited our friends from church, the Escalaras, over to have some Christmas fun with us.

 

Both families made things to contribute to dinner that night, and we had quite the feast.  The kids ate pretty quickly because they knew that after dinner, all the fun would begin. 

 

The first thing we did after dinner was make Christmas sugar cookies for Santa.  It's something we've done every year and the girls love it.  We have a ton of Christmas cookie cutters, and the kids each picked out one or two to use while we rolled out the dough.

They had a lot of fun taking turns with different cookie cutters, making as many cookies as possible.  After using up all the dough, we played Christmas Bingo (with prizes-whoop whoop!) while we waited for the cookies to bake and cool.  The kids loved playing bingo and eating the marshmallow bingo markers too.

We decorated the cookies with lots of different colored icing, sprinkles, M&M's and chocolate chips as soon as we were done with Bingo.  Each of the kids decorated three or four cookies, then were allowed to eat one of their masterpieces.  We set them aside, read The Night Before Christmas, and then our friends left for the night.  I wish I had taken more pictures of all the fun the kids had with their friends, but even having a few to remember that night is great.

 

We talked about the true meaning of Christmas with our kids before bed (something that we had focused on all month long as well), and they each picked out a cookie for Santa and put it (along with some carrots) on the Santa cookie plate.  We have a tradition where the girls each get to open one gift on Christmas Eve-their Christmas Pjs!!  And after donning their pjs, our exhausted little kiddies went to bed, excited to see what the morning would bring.  So grateful that they had such a good time, and that we could share that special night with some great friends!