We didn't have much planned for Christmas Eve, which is exactly how I like it. I love spending my holidays having to be no where at all:)
Little did I know though that plans really had been made.
You see, last week, I had given Sam a stack of Christmas cards and told him that he could write Christmas notes to his friends and pass them out on the last day of school. Sam spent quite a while on those cards, and though I never checked over his work, I was certain that his friends would enjoy whatever he wrote. Harmless right?
Well apparently, Sam had more in mind then that. Instead of simply writing a "Have a Merry Christmas" note - he turned some of his cards into INVITATIONS for his very own Christmas Eve PARTY!!! I mean, who wouldn't in his position, right?
I knew none of this at all until Christmas Eve morning, when I got a phone call from some parents enquiring about the exact address for this party. It was the most confusing and embarrassing experience EVER - yet for some reason, all I could do was laugh! He'd made sure to include the date ("Christmas Eve"), the Time ("10-12 in the day") and the place ("Sam's house")
Geesh this kid!!!!
Nothing like cancelling your 7 year old's Christmas Eve party to kick off the festivities!
Luckily, a few hours later, we were able to have a party. Just on a much much smaller scale:)
Grandpa joined us for Christmas Eve dinner and showed up with a couple of live Lobsters too!
The kids were delighted by these little crustaceans. Luckily, despite the fact that Jess wanted to keep one for a pet, we all enjoyed eating them! I'm afraid John (and many of his siblings) would agree that nothing says "Christmas Eve" like a Steak & Lobster dinner. I've always been more then happy to go along with this family tradition:) Yummy!
Jessica was truly entranced with this whole "lobster thing" this year, and actually saved one of the Lobster claws, washed it out, let it dry, and carried it around with her for the rest of the night!!! She was often found chasing others around waving "The Claw" menacingly in their faces. (That night, as we were preparing to go to bed, I went in to check on her and there she was, fast asleep - with the CLAW resting peacefully beside her. It was both kinda funny and kinda gross, all at the same time.)
After dinner, and before Jessica took some of the dinner scraps to bed with her ...we took a few minutes to read about the birth of Christ. While John read, we played the parts. Abby was a wise man. Sam was a Shepherd. Jessica was Mary. And I had to be Joseph because Nathan didn't want to be any part of it.
In fact, the only thing that Nathan wanted to be a part of - was opening presents! He seemed convinced that it was HIS birthday, and that ALL of the presents under our tree were really intended for him. We realized this when he came upstairs after dinner excitedly holding the new Pokemon Ball he'd just unwrapped. What a little butt!
After we acted out the Nativity, and opened a couple of Christmas Eve gifts (jammies and slippers;) we gave the kids a second to scatter their reindeer food.
They set out a plate full of cookies, a carrot, AND some Eggnog for Santa....
and then it was off to bed!!!!!
I personally love putting my kids to bed on Christmas Eve. They are just bursting with excitement, yet it's still pretty much the one.time.each.year when they willingly go right to sleep!!
I always look forward to this night for that one reason:)
Because we now have a child who is a "non-believer" we let Abby stay up late with us while we had snacks and watched Christmas with the Kranks. Then Abby got to help us place the presents under the tree and fill the stockings.
She took this role very VERY seriously, and I think she felt privileged to get to help.
Shortly after midnight, we finally went to bed, and fell asleep looking forward to the fun that awaited us on Christmas day.
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