Christmas Eve. What a fun, glorious day - the pre-curser to Christmas and the day when the excitement really sets in. This year, our Christmas Eve started out slightly different because I had to go to the doctor. The sickness finally won out so I headed out to my appointment and left the boys with instructions of what to do to be ready when I got home :-) It's good I went to the doctor since I had ended up with Asthmatic Bronchitis - some good meds and I was on my way to recovery (hopefully!). I talked to Josh on my way home and he said, "We are waiting for you so we can leave for Papa and Nana's house!!" HA! As soon as I got home, we loaded up and headed out with a stop at the pharmacy on our way out of town.
Our first stop was Bob Evans to meet my parents for a late lunch. My mom had coupons for feel dinners so it was easy and inexpensive :-) The boys were thrilled to finally be with "Papa-Clause and Nana-Clause" HA! To make it even better, it started snowing while we were there. Snow just seems to "make" Christmas. We hung out at the parents house until time for the Christmas Eve Service at my dad's church. It is always such a great service and it did not disappoint. The music, the message and, for the first time, a true candle-lite service. We all gathered in a large circle, lit the candles, and sang Silent Night - it was so beautiful.
We then headed back to my parents house for snacks. This is a tradition in our family - Christmas Eve Snacks. Shrimp Cocktail, Crescent wrapped litt'l wieners, cheese and crackers and more. Then we headed downstairs to give the boys their Christmas Eve Gifts.
Our Christmas photo of two cute little boys. This is the best we got - the rest they are just being silly boys which I love!
Christmas Eve Gifts - we got the boys new Christmas PJ's and I made them each an ABC book using all of their own toys as inspiration (I'll be sharing more on that later). Plus they got a couple of toys from Papa and Nana- John Deere Flashlights and Jack-in-the-Boxes.
Of course, we had to get photos of the boys with their new PJ's :-) I love this shot . . .plus lots of outtakes!
Finally, a long standing tradition in my family - the photo of the kids in front of three - facing it :-) I love it.
The boys went to bed willingly and slept until 8:00 the next morning which is fabulous. Not sure how many more years we have of sleeping in on Christmas Morning!
