Merry Christmas Eve

It was so nice to sleep in our own beds last night and wake up and have a leisurely morning.  Autumn still has croup and I’ve got the crud so we just spent the morning relaxing.  Lexie & Jon & Andrew came over to have breakfast (we just had cereal) b/c Luz was at Mom & Dad’s house cleaning.  We were going to go w/ them to see Rise of the Guardians, but Autumn kept coughing and sounded like he was going to hock up a lung, so we decided to just stay home and play games.  We played Candyland and Nick won twice, and then we played a few other games before he had to get ready to leave for work.

We finally got cleaned up for the day around 1:30 and went over to Mom & Dad’s.  We hung out for a while and then everyone was getting cabin fever so we took the kids on a walk.  That way Mom could have some peace and quiet.  The kids rode their bikes & we went to a pond in the neighborhood.  At least, it used to be a pond.  We were SHOCKED to see that it was completely dry.  Not only was there no water, it wasn’t even muddy.  It was so dry that the ground was cracked!!!  Lexie walked out to the middle of the pond and was pretending to swim.

The kids thought that was cool and wanted to try it out, too.  Andrew even went and stood on the dock.  We told him to jump but it was way too far down.  It was surreal to see the kids walking around where the pond used to be.

Lexie must have gotten tired of walking and decided to ride Autumn’s bike for a little bit.  Autumn even helped push her b/c it was hard for Lexie to pedal w/ her long legs.

Jon & I put Jackson between us as we were walking and would throw him up into the air.  He was laughing and having the time of his life.  We put him up on the mailbox and he thought he was hot stuff.  His little toothy smile is so cute!

Jackson wanted Lexie to read him a book, so the other kids sat down on the floor to have story time.  It was all going well until Jackson wanted to take away the book and run around w/ it.  Then Lexie started singing O’ Little Town of Bethlehem b/c that was part of the book and I got the giggles, and so story time was over.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out, watching Christmas movies, grazing on food, etc.  At 7:30 we decided it was time for the kids to go to bed.  Dad wanted to read Luke 2, which we usually do before opening presents on Christmas morning, but we did it now.  It was spiritual and going well until Jackson sat on Dad’s feet and Dad was lifting him up into the air.  He started laughing and was having so much fun.

It’s tradition to open one present on Christmas Eve and it’s always new pajamas so we look good in our pictures on Christmas Day.  We had just started opening them when we heard a knock at the door and it was the Jones family.  They had come caroling, which is Mom’s favorite part of Christmas Eve.  She even went and sat between the 2 Jones boys at church on Sunday so she could listen to them in “surround sound.”  They harmonize and always give me goosebumps b/c they’re so good.  I stayed hidden over in the corner b/c I was wearing these…

Mom had done some detective work and found the lady that I bought Autumn’s blue pajamas from when we were up in Utah this summer.  She contacted her and asked if she could make me a red one for Christmas b/c I had loved the one I had as a little girl.  When I opened the box, I was just expecting the usual pajama pants.  When I saw that it was red silky pajamas like I used to have as a little girl I got so excited and then I got emotional and teary eyed b/c of the thought that Mom would go to so much effort.  It’s one of the greatest Christmas presents (next to my laptop) that I’ve ever gotten!

And not only that, but she got a purple one for Lexie and a blue one for herself that matched the one I got Autumn!  I CHERISH this picture so much.  What a neat surprise!

Here’s all the boys in their new pajama pants.  Poor Nick was working until 9:00 so he came over once he got off work and got his new PJ bottoms and then went straight upstairs to his own room and went to bed b/c he was so tired.

We got the kids to bed so Santa could come.  One of Mom’s favorite things is to rock Jackson to sleep.

Mom & Lexie & I made scrapple so it could sit in the fridge overnight so we could have it for breakfast tomorrow.  Then we wanted to show Mom & Dad how the Dream Lites work.  We thought they were cool, but Mom & Dad weren’t impressed.  I thought they were b/c they look like they emit lots of lights on the ceiling on the commercial, and they really do that in real life, too.  I think the green color shows up the best.  Hopefully the kids will be excited that Santa brought each of them one.

I went upstairs to wrap presents, b/c I hadn’t  had a chance to yet.  I was only up there for about 30 minutes and when I came downstairs, the whole house was dark and everyone had gone to bed.  So, I put my presents under the tree, made sure what Santa brought was all set up, and then I was in bed by 10:30, which is unheard of for Christmas Eve.  Hopefully the kids will let us sleep in.