Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve Day was such a wonderful day—there were so many things to do and yet, it felt relaxing too.  We had made Santa’s cookies the weekend before so that was checked off of our list as well as last minute purchases and gift wrapping—ALL completed!

We started the morning by letting Addison open ONE present.  It’s hard to contain the excitement of a 3 year old at Christmas time and she had so many presents under the tree anyway, opening one early wasn’t going to hurt anything!  She picked a gift and was happy to open it and find the game Cootie.  Needless to say, we played that game many times that day along with preparations for that evening which included making sausage balls, chocolate cake, and queso dip for the Vahle Christmas celebration.  We were also excited about Mamaw Pogue coming home with us later that night to spend the night and enjoy Christmas morning with us at our house.

After our Christmas Eve dinner at the Vahle’s, the kids could hardly contain their excitement (mainly Addi).  You know she’s excited when she wants to skip dessert!  So we gave in and got down to the business of present opening and decided desserts could wait until later!  Addi was a total pro at opening gifts this year and I just love to see the excitement and anticipation in her eyes!  She is very spoiled and made out very well.  She loved her new white, furry boots, princess pajamas, and gift certificate from Build a Bear from the Bartrams, the Barbie horse, Barbie outfits, Barbie, and money from Nina and Papaw, Raggedy Andy doll and two KY t-shirts from Debbie and Tag.

Austin got a pea coat from Nana and Papaw, cologne and a new wallet from the Bartram’s, and a KY long sleeved shirt from Debbie and Tag.

The adults played dirty Santa and there are always some funny gag gifts that get passed along from year to year.  Specifically, there are some hideous clear, “jelly” sandals that have been passed around the family for years.  This year, Tag was the lucky receiver of those shoes.  Addi got them last year and didn’t quite know what to think about them!  We were happy to pass them along this year!

The phone rang and it was the annual phone call from Santa who calls each year to speak to the kids to be sure that they have been good all year.  I thought for sure that Addi would be excited to talk to Santa this year to fill him in on her list that she’d made but I was wrong.  Instead, she told me, that he could read her letter that she had mailed to him weeks ago…  Point taken.

After more socializing and filling up on desserts, we headed to my parents house to visit with them and all of my grandparents who had arrived in town.  It was getting late so we couldn’t stay too long since we needed to get home and lay out cookies and milk for Santa and get to bed! 

Mamaw went home with us and once we got home, we immediately got Santa’s cookies and milk ready and Addi also left Santa a special picture that she had colored for him.  We read the Night Before Christmas and then talked about the true meaning of Christmas before getting her in bed.

Once she was sound asleep (which didn’t take long), Craig and I went to work in Santa’s workshop (the basement).  There were a few things that had needed to be assembled that he had done earlier in the day so we mainly just had to carry everything upstairs and set things up and then get the stockings filled up.  I am a total kid at heart because I LOVE playing Santa Claus and could barely sleep in anticipation of Christmas morning.