Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve.

There is so much anticipation and wonder in the air!

I got Maddy dressed in a Christmas dress and I wore my Christmas shirt so we would feel festive.

Abi, like her dad, wanted to stay in jammies all day.

Our Christmas Eve day tradition is that Doug and Abi play legos. The past couple of years they would get out Doug's big Lego castle from the basement and put it together.

This year we pulled out a Lego mosaic toy that we got many years ago but were saving until she was old enough.

It was really cool.

We, of course, tracked Santa all day on Norad.

And we decorated cookies for Santa.

We didn't bake them this year because a few months ago when I needed to make sugar cookies for something I thought ahead and made a few Christmas tree shapes as well that I froze.

Ready for Santa...

Every year we get a new family game. This year I decided we would start opening them on Christmas Eve day so we have something fun to play with as a family while dinner is cooking.

This year I got Operation. It's very different from the one I had when I was a kid, but still fun.

We had our traditional Cafe Rio burrito dinner and watched a Christmas Movie. Usually it's The Nativity Story or Muppets Christmas Carol but this year we started watching The Santa Clause 2 earlier in the day and Abi wanted to finish it.

After that it was time for baths and then we got to do one of my favorite things- open our Christmas Eve jammies and books!

First me..

then Doug...

then Abi. This was the funniest thing. I made this Rapunzel hair bow holder patterned after one I saw in Catching Fireflies and I wrapped it up the same day I wrapped the girls pajamas. I labeled them wrong. So, Abi thought she was opening her jammies and pulled this out instead.

She was so confused.

I explained to her that I had made it for her and Maddy and I found the other present under the tree that I thought had Rapunzel in it. She then was able to open her jammies and book.

Doug helped Maddy open hers up...

The tradition of jammies on Christmas eve goes back to both of our families. I love it. It is so fun to go to bed in new pajamas on Christmas Eve and stay in them all day on Christmas!

I just started the book tradition a few years ago after reading about another family that did it. The idea behind it was that their kids always had a new book to read so that when they woke up on Christmas morning they could read their book while they waited to go open gifts.

It is another favorite addition for me because I love books so much!

This year I got Leviathan by Scott Westerfield. It is so good... if you like young adult sci-fi steampunk type fantasy.

Abi got a Rapunzel book.

Maddy got a new Goodnight Moon book- our old one was falling apart.

I didn't give Doug books with his jammies because he really doesn't read much.

Trying to get pictures of the girls together is always a challenge because Maddy is such a wiggle worm.. here is one of the first attempts...

Finally I realized it was best to get a picture with her just doing her thing...which at the moment was trying to take ornaments off of the tree.

It resulted in a picture I love! They are both actually looking at the camera and Abi is showing off an ornament she just saved from Maddy!

The Family jammie picture!

After this we read some stories, did the nativity flannel board story and a gifts to Jesus family home evening activity, and got the girls to bed.