Christmas Eve

Robb and I decided a couple years ago, that as fun as it was to see family for the holidays, we really needed some of our own traditions also.We have been working on this over the years and one thing we decided was important to us was to be able to attend our own church for Christmas Eve service and to have the kids wake up on Christmas morning at our house. So we did just that. Christmas Eve we spent the morning hanging out listening to the kids beg and plead to open gifts and then we gave in after lunch. They had a great time opening gifts! I always wrap all of each kids gifts in one kind of paper but I usually don't tell them whose paper is whose to add to the excitement. The kids had started to figure it out and had already sorted all the gifts out. This year we struggled a little because all of Bryce and Caleb's gifts are really expensive and all of  Abby and Emmy's gifts are relatively cheap. So, we had to remind the boys of that when their pile of gifts wasn't as big as the girls.

Bryce got a jersey and shorts, football and basketball cards, a new Ipod because his screen broke and some other odds and ends.

Caleb got a jersey and shorts, mini drone and electricity game and some other little things.

Abby got a blue tooth speaker system, clothes, and art stuff.

Emerson got a karaoke machine, Barbies, paint stuff, and a baby doll and accessories.
All of the kids made us cute crafts for Christmas and gave us candy and lots of cards.
Robb and I gave each other a house for the next 30 years. Ha Ha

We ended the evening with going to a beautiful church service and each year Emmy becomes less and less distracting. She especially loved the singing so that kept her attention. After church we went to about the only restaurant in town to eat which is Imperial Palace. Chinese food for Christmas Eve why not!

Last but not least we needed to set out our cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and say goodbye and goodnight to our elves Blitzen and Bella. We read the Christmas story and headed to bed knowing that it would be an early morning since we had only required that they sleep until 6am.