Christmas Eve started off bright and early. I knew the girls would be excited about going to Nana and Papa's house later than evening, so I had stocked up on craft projects for them to work on during the day. This kept them busy for about an hour and then we let them open a present. It was their annual Christmas PJs. Luckily monkeys on PJs are still cool to a three and four year old, so they weren't disappointed by a "lame gift."
Before we left the house, the girls put out cookies and letters to Santa.
Allison and I had plans to go to Christmas Eve mass with my family, while Mia and Brian were going to stay at my parent's house. We didn't think Amelia would sit still long enough to make it through the whole mass. However, Allison decided that day that she didn't want to go. We have been having issues recently with Allison getting really frustrated if she feels like she is not being taken seriously or being listened to, so I wasn't going to push the issue. Amelia spoke up and said she wanted to go to church with me. So, I dressed her up and brought her along. She was a perfect angel! She sat still the whole time and took everything in and liked "following" along with the hymnal. Allison, on the other hand, was content with hanging out at Nana's house reading books and doing puzzles.
After mass, we all went back to my parents' house for a big dinner and presents. The girls loved hanging out with their cousins as they are completely spoiled with attention by them.
Allison took her job as garbage collector very seriously.
I took the girls to the dollar store to pick out presents. They were so excited to give Nana and Papa their gifts. Amelia bought my mom a Mickey Mouse watch and my dad a tape measure. Allison picked out a candy bar for my mom (which she told Nana that her tummy was really going to like the present) and she picked out a dust wand for my dad to clean his car's interior.
At the end of the night, my dad read "The Night Before Christmas" to all the grandkids. To me, this is what Christmas Eve is all about. It was a tradition that was started when my oldest sister was a baby 29 years ago (right Jodi?) and has continued ever since. Thanks dad for the memories!
3 comments:
OH my gosh. That is the SAME book we read when we were kids. It has tape all along the edges now but still works. We read it to the kids now even thought it smells a little musty ;-)
You are correct, 29 years ago. We got a kick out of seeing the girls excitement on Christmas Eve.
My Grandpa would read that to all 10 of us on Christmas Eve. We had a different version.
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