Christmas 2013

So we always start off Christmas Eve with a crazy dinner of all our favorite finger foods. This year we had spinach artichoke dip with pita chips, meatballs, white chicken chili (which was supposed to be a dip but ended up being more of a soup), cinnamon bread, two flavors of little wienies, and my homemade egg rolls, which are way better than any egg roll you can get anywhere else.

We then open a themed gift. Last year we got blue plaid pajama pants. This year we all got Superman stuff! I picked Superman this year because everyone used to say Jason looked like Superman. ;) Yeah, he's pretty studly.

Seth got a shirt and flashlight.

 Kai got a cape and socks.

 Jason got a tie.

 I got pajama pants.

We also don Santa hats.

We do several little games at this point, including one that has us hang a nail on our Christmas tree to remind us what Christ went through for us. We read the story of Jesus being born, 'Twas the night before Christmas, and a really cool pop-up book of A Christmas Carol. We watch a short movie about the birth of Christ also. I could go on. I have a lot of ideas for when the boys get older. It's going to be fun! Then it's off to bed for the little ones so Santa can come. He hides the stockings and leaves picture clues that we follow all over the house until one leads us to the boys' stockings. As the boys grow, the clues will become riddles. And morning comes with much anticipation.

We usually find the stockings and go through them, then have breakfast. This means monkey bread and breakfast casserole! (Yes, we have a lot of traditions for Christmas.)

Then it's on to presents. We make a mess, stop to play with most of them, and laugh a lot! It's so wonderful to see the joy on the face of the one opening a present, and I don't just mean the kids. Jason is so animated. It's great!

Seth's favorite gift was his Monster Truck Wii game. He loves monster trucks. Kai's favorite gift was his swing car. There are a lot of wheels in this house!

We both call home at some point during the day.

At the end of the day, we top it all off with a fancy dinner, usually steak and twice-baked potatoes. It's our favorite meal I think.

My favorite part of the day was when the boys took all of their new toys and used them in a game they made up. I loved seeing them use their imaginations despite having a whole house of new toys, clothes, and books. Kai got in their new sleigh with all the toys. He was Santa in his sleigh. Seth pulled him around and was Rudolph. It was so sweet.