Christmas Eve

This year we had Matt's parents and his brother visiting for the week of Christmas.  It changed up a bit of what we usually do for Christmas Eve but we did try to keep with most of our traditions.  It was hard to pull the kids away from all the electronics, but I at least got one helper to bake cookies for Santa (I may or may not have used Chocolate to bribe her).

We had lots of delicious food and then it got pretty loud in here!  It was time to cheat  play games.

The first year I moved out here I started a tradition that has really been the one tradition that I look forward to every year.  Each member of the family has to come up with a short Christmas related game for everyone to play.  I don't know how I missed getting pictures of some of them(guess I got caught up in the fun).  This particular game was called Christmas in 10....

You had to sit back to back and one person had to tell you what to draw using only shapes/lines in 10 clues and then you had to guess what the picture was when you were done.  We got some really great drawings, and some that were pretty funny.

Kelsey's game was called Do you want to build a snowman.  Using a dice taking turns you had to try to be the first to build your snowman.

Chase decided on a game he did as a presentation with his class called Face the star (played like face the cookie).  Pretty funny facial shots you get when you are playing this one.  Grandpa was determined to win this one.

I didn't get any pictures of Sadi's game.  She read us a story about Hanukkah, which she learned about in school and was really excited about, then we played dreidel and even got a piece of gelt(chocolate coin).  It was definitely nontraditional but fun.  The kids and David made up a cute little play they preformed for us complete with props and costumes they made themselves.  Can you guess what character Sadi played?  I particularly loved the red paper glued to her nose.

As always this jolly man stopped in for a surprise visit.  He even brought a few surprises. 

Sadi thought she knew this Santa but was really very hesitant and not quite 100 percent sure she wanted to sit on his lap.

Kelsey still sat on Santa's lap even though his bag was empty...or so he said.  Way down at the bottom he dug out a nice little gift card for her.

 

Time was passing quickly and as it was getting later it was time to prepare for THE big guys arrival.  We tracked his progress on Norad, selected the best cookies to leave him, and got the stockings ready to be filled.

 Sadi and Chase sprinkled their magic reindeer food out back for Santa's helpers.

Santa had written a special letter saying before they went to bed that he would lift our elves magic for just a few minutes so we could give them a hug and say our goodbyes.  He promised that if they were good they would be able to return next year.  Although they are a bit naughty, these little guys have really been a big part of our family for the past month. 

FINALLY it was time to get everyone nestled in their beds...easier said than done.