Christmas Eves

Christmas pretty much started the moment my brother arrived at the airport on Sunday the 22nd.  All I can say is that it was a blessing and then some that he even made it midst the worst ice storm his area had seen in a long time.  He drove to the airport admist power outages and dodging fallen powerlines!

We enjoyed a yummy brunch (cinnamon buns, fruit, hard boiled eggs, sausage, yogurt, etc) at our house right after he arrived.  T helped some of the kids build a gingerbread house after while we all visited.

 We headed to my parent's house for my brother's favorite meal (roast beef dinner).
I must admit that I love looking at my mom's very perfect Christmas tree!

We still had a gingerbread train in need of building so AL and her uncle set to work on it.  It was turned out super cute.

 On Monday we actually had our Gr.2 girl that we babysit for the day which was so fun for the kids.  She honestly makes my kids less work when she is around.......love that!  T was home too so it was a great day.  The girls joined me for some last minute gift shopping for our sister missionaries.  After lunch T took them down to the beach club with my Dad to go skating for the first time this year.  My kids have only really skated once before,  last year on my sister's pond.  The progress they made in the couple hrs they were there was unreal, they went from hanging onto the bars to skating on their own!!!  They are so in love with skating now and have asked to skate every day since.
That evening we drove a half hr to a neighboring town to watch the live nativity that our church out there puts on each year.  The weather couldn't have been better and the spirit was so sweet watching the show with family and friends.

 We dropped off T and WR at home for bedtime and I headed out to my sister's house with the older kids for some amazing thai food, visiting and games.  Such a fun fun night!(Don't worry, I took T home some food too)

 The anticipation of Christmas made the 24th the longest day ever for the kids.  I still remember that feeling from being a kid.  JA offered to go to bed several times during the day in hopes of making Christmas morning arrive sooner ;)
The kids carried the gifts down and piled them around the tree.

 Chippey the elf had his bags packed and waited for Santa's sleigh!

 An entertaining game of Life took place while I worked on chopping and bagging veggies for Christmas dinner (highly recommend doing that, so much easier on Christmas day).  We hosted the dinner this year for the first time so we set up another table in our kitchen as well.

 After WR woke from his nap we joined the family for some more skating.  My new favorite thing to do!

 Loved seeing this girl with even more confidence and ability.

 Christmas eve we headed to my parents with T's mom and brothers.  Christmas eve dinner consisting of appies and treats has to be one of my most favorite meals of the year.

 We played a bunch of games I planned.  Some from previous years and lots of new Minute to Win it games.

 Cute little wrapped snowmen

 JA is too cute to call out on his cheating ways ;)

 This one tested a few comfort levels........lol (think kissing siblings)

 We played a great new game that my sister and my BFF introduced to us.  Check here for the link (pass the present while reading the nativity).  It proved to be almost too tricky for the old man....lol.  We will for sure play this one again.

 The kids checked the Santa tracker often and then insisted they needed to go home and go to bed once he hit north america (easiest bedtime ever)

 A fun evening for sure.

 The kids left out a mountain of cookies for Santa just incase he was really hungry and then headed to bed.  Santa came not long after they were asleep!

Stay tuned for some highlights from Christmas day..................................................