When Katelynn saw Santa, she started waving frantically and yelling, "Santa! Santa! Hi! It's me, it's meeee!" They told Santa they were going to leave out milk and cookies and carrots for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Here is a picture of Mommy & the kids posing with Santa and nibbling on popcorn. Sorry the picture is so bad. A camera phone in the dark..what can I say?
Then, we drove to the 'Celebration of Lights' being put on by a local church. It was the kind you drive through in your car. We didn't know anything about it. Scott just saw it from the freeway on the way to school and thought it looked neat, so we followed the signs. We waited in this L O N G line of cars to get in, then right before entering found out it was $15 per car to get in! We were, like, 'Uh...how do you get outta here?' They decided to wave us through and didn't charge us to get in. "Merry Christmas!" they said, as we drove into the display. It was kinda neat, but I wouldn't say it was $15 worth of neat. It reminds me of a quote from Sister Act 2, "It was cool for what it was, but it wasn't all that."
After driving through the Celebration of Lights, we went home and watched "The Nativity", then put out the cookies, milk & carrots, hung our stockings and opened our Christmas Eve pajamas. The girls got Sleeping Beauty PJs, and Michael got these pajamas that have a little picture of a ship on the shirt with the title "Dream Boat" and little sailboats all over the pants. They love them and have worn them every night since.
The kids were very excited and went to sleep without a problem, in the hopes of finding presents under the tree the next morning. Meanwhile, Mommy & Daddy stayed up wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies* till {FOUR} in the morning! Good thing the kids didn't wake up until 8:30!
The stockings were so full that we had to line them up in front of the fireplace. We made these stockings last year with David & Jaime. David made Michael's. It has Donald Duck dressed up like Santa and a Christmas tree. Jaime (correct me if I'm wrong on these) made Katelynn's. It is a penguin, because Katelynn is obsessed with her penguin blanket. The hands are made so that the penguin can hold a scrap of her blanket. (we still haven't done that!) Emma's was made by Jaime and my brother Joshua. It has a red-nosed reindeer with lights tangled up in its antlers. Scott & I made each others' stockings. Scott's has him on it as the 'little BBQ drummer boy'. I made a grill in the shape of a drum and the utensils are in his hands like drumsticks. Mine has snowman on it, with a 3D brim on his hat and everything!
It was kinda weird to just be with our own little nuclear family for Christmas Eve, but we made the most of it. The most important part is being with family and taking time to talk about the birth of our Savior.
Oh, one last thing. Wanna hear an awesome joke my friend's daughter made up? Ok, here it goes:
What do you call the day before Christmas Eve?
Christmas ADAM!
Ha ha ha. I love it! Hope your Christmas Eve was wonderful!
*Note: Here is a list of the movies we watched-
It's a Wonderful Life - I cry at the end every time
Miracle on 34th Street- the old one with Maureen O'Hara
While You Were Sleeping - not necessarily about Christmas, but it takes place during Christmas and is so funny
Other good ones:
White Christmas - Katelynn decided to-not kidding- cook it in the microwave, so now we need a new copy
Meet Me in St. Louis - it has Christmas in it...
Holiday Inn - an oldie, but goodie with Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire
How the Grinch Stole Christmas - not the new one, but the old cartoon
Elf - Will Ferrel is a nutcase!
Mickey's Christmas Carol- gotta love Mickey Mouse
Muppet Christmas Carol
I also like to watch the Harry Potter movies, 'cause the decorations in the castle at Christmas are always so magical. I like "A Charlie Brown Christmas", but this year I noticed that after the kids watched it I would catch them saying things like, "I'm so stupid!" and it broke my little heart. So, I put a kibosh on the Charlie Brown watching for a while.
Your tree and stockings look great! And you had Lowell and I beat, we were in bed at 12:30 having only watched The funniest commercials of 2008 and The Christmas Story on its continuous loop on TNT. Merry Christmas!
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