Christmas Eve

We had a really quiet start to our Christmas Eve morning--Brooke and Megan spent the night with my sister Carrie the night before.  And even though we had my brother Tyler with us, like most 15 year olds, he sleeps in as long as he can.

But alas, our sleeping in only went til about 7 am since we had to be on our way by about 8:30 am so we could head to my parents' neighbors annual Christmas Eve breakfast.  We got there a little after 9 am and the party was in full swing.  It's fun to catch up with neighbors that have known my parents since they moved in right before I was born.  And we enjoyed our sausage, blueberry pancakes, homemade egg nog (although it was mint this year--not my favorite!), and grapefruit punch.  By about 10 am we were back at my Dad's house.  

Candy ready for family prayer (so, so cute) before we headed down to Dad's.

Carrie and Brookie at the breakfast...

Carrie and Candy...

Megan and Brooke enjoying their pancakes...

We spent the day relaxing, playing games, and getting ready for a delicious dinner.  I made jello and fruit salad, steamed asparagus with lemon butter, and creamy pumpkin soup.  Dad made ratatouille and two beef tenderloins; Amy made a delicious salad and brownies; Carrie made shrimp cocktail, bread, and peppermint bark--you can tell we starved.  We used the fancy dishes and set a fancy table and had such a nice time.  We were so full we didn't even eat Amy's brownies til the next day and we had lots of leftovers.  

After dinner, all the grandkids opened their Christmas Eve pjs and put them on.  Then we acted out the nativity from Luke 2, sang Christmas carols, had a visit from Santa--it was the perfect Christmas Eve.  We got home around 8:30 pm with tired girls and put them right to bed.  We finished our Christmas Eve prep by 9:30 pm and fell asleep watching It's a Wonderful Life.  We could hardly wait til morning!

Opening jammies...

To say they were wired would be a bit of an understatement--this was the best picture we got!

Candy was happy too!

Here comes Mary (Chloe), Joseph (Zach), and the donkey (Grandpa)

Candy, Brooke, and I were shepherds...

Here's the whole crew including the angels (Hailey and Megan) and our wise man (Tyler in the doctoral robes)

 The grandkids singing...

 
Brooke

Megan

Candy(ahaha--the things we do to our kids)

Me and my sister Carrie

Here's our tree--all ready for Christmas morning!  Santa snuck in and out just before I took these pictures--and I was pretty excited to see he got the girls' letters and brought them some beautiful bikes!