Christmas Eve

After the fun of celebrating Samantha's birthday had subsided somewhat it was time to start our Christmas Eve traditions.  Emily has been our chef's helper for the last little while and she planned our dinner menu and helped prepare the food for Christmas Eve.  We had honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes, brown sugar glazed carrots (lots of glazed foods), and homemade crescent rolls.  It didn't look like that much food when it was all on the table, but it seemed like a lot of food when it was time to eat.

When dinner was all cleaned up and put away, the girls put on a Nativity play for us.  There was no parental involvement other than being audience members.  A few weeks before Christmas Eve, Emily got all the kids together and had everyone choose a part to play.  They gathered items for their costumes and on that one day they were all excited about the whole thing.  After that day I didn't see or hear any preparations for Christmas Eve.  Despite not really preparing they did a good job.  They asked Jared to read from Luke 2 and each one acted out their part at the appropriate time.  It was really sweet and focusing on the birth of Christ was the perfect way to spend our Christmas Eve night.

Left to right:  Abby to wise man, Madison the shepherd, Samantha as Joseph,
Natalie the angel, and Emily as Mary
Then it was cookies and milk for Santa and into bed for all the excited girls - I remember being almost too excited to sleep on Christmas Eve when I was a kid and our girls are the same way.  It took a while, but eventually they quieted down so Jared and I could go to sleep as well.  I decided that Santa didn't need to come to our house this year.  The space under our tree was already overflowing with presents from friends and family members and really, how much does one family (or little girl) need?

I can remember in the past that our tree looked like this
on Christmas morning, not  two days before Christmas
Despite what I'd decided, Santa did come to our house this year.  He couldn't resist the cookies and milk the girls had set out for him and he already had gifts for the girls.  What's a jolly old man to do?

We made spritz this year - yummy - and Madison made sure there was a carrot for the reindeer

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