Christmas Celebrations: Part II

And the rest of our Christmas went something like this....

The stockings we had for the kids were, well, small and cheap. Since stockings are my favorite part of Christmas morning, I couldn't resist making them new stockings this year. My mom was so proud of me! This is the first sewing project I have ever done without her right there to tell me exactly what to do. I even made up my own pattern and just figured it out as I went. I finished them Christmas Eve morning at about 2 am. :) As for the colors . . . we went to the fabric store and Alex and Rebekah chose their own color. We put two colors in front of Kaitlyn and bought the one that she tried to eat first. 

Christmas Eve!!!! We started the day by going out for our annual Christmas Eve breakfast of hot chocolate and donuts and bagels! Yum! Then we came home and started making our Santa Cookies to put on his plate. The kids requested "Cut out cookies." In other words . . . sugar cookies. :) Alex is dressed as one of Santa's Elves in case you were wondering . .  that is a feather in his hat. His idea. :)

When we were cutting them out, Rebekah just kept eating the dough! Thus the "you naughty little girl" finger pointing at her cute guilty face. Can you see how bad she feels about it? HA! :)

Mmmmmm, more cookie dough!!

Less you are deceived . . . Alex ate his share of raw cookie dough too . . . he was just more discreet about it and also cranked out his share of cut out cookies. 

She loves helping me put the cookies into the hot oven. Scary, but oh so darling to see her excitement! Look at that face! Btw, my friend Ashley made me the apron I am wearing! Darling! Thank you Ashley!

Happy cookie maker

And now we wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . .

Alex and I decorated them while Rebekah was napping . . . she tends to just eat the frosting and none really makes it on to the cookies . . . so to avoid tummy aches, we did it without her this year. 

He was hesitant at first and wanted me to do the decorating, but after awhile he got into it and wouldn't let me help! 

And we can't leave out the squishalicious Katybug who spent most of Christmas Eve watching and taking it all in.

She also spent some time exploring.

Another of our traditions is to make personal pizzas on Christmas Eve. We love doing this. The kids do too. 

Then on to our Nativity and Testimony sharing . . . this was such a special night for us. It is so fun to see your kids taking in the true spirit of Christmas. Since all of us were actors in our play, we didn't get many pics of the actual act. :)

Here we are on our way outside to throw carrots for Santa's reindeer. They get hungry too ya know . . . AND they would make far too much noise coming inside to eat their carrots AND Santa doesn't have time to wait for them to eat when he brings them out to them . . . so they eat while he fills our stockings and eats his cookies. :) 

Then we open one Christmas Eve present which is always new jammies wrapped around a book. You have seen mine and Joseph's jammies before?! Well, you are right! We got these for each other for Christmas Eve in 2006 and this is the 3rd Christmas that we have re-wrapped them for each other . . . funds are low. :) Rebekah got moon jammies and a book called, "Papa, will you get the Moon for Me?" Alex got How to Train your Dragon jammies with a HtTyD book. The jammies have wings on them. Awesome for a boy who loooooves costumes! Katybug got an outfit that could also be used as jammies since she needs clothes but doesn't need jammies and a ladybug book. We love this tradition. 

Then we put Kaitlyn to bed and let the other two stay up and watch the movie The Santa Claus II. Fun!

Last but not least . . . setting out the hot chocolate and cookies for Santa! They were soooooo excited!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

  Christmas Day! Merry Christmas 2010

Waiting to come down on Christmas morning . . . they were not happy that they had to wait! :) Next year we are definitely doing our family prayer and Gifts to Christ before we go down by the tree! It did not go well having all the presents right in front of their little eyes while we tried to remind everyone of the true meaning of Christmas. Duh.

They opened all their presents . . . they had a million of them thanks to grandparents and friends. This is after the morning madness . . . Alex is all decked out in his scarf I made him, his new slippers, jacket from Mercedes, and dragon jammies . .. ready to go for the day and patiently waiting to go to Jayden's house!

Still waiting . . . decided reading his dragon book again would be more fun than staring out the window.

Rebekah loved the scarf I made her . . . she also loved the cleaning set from Grammy Jane and Grandpa Tim! You can see Alex checking out his fishing game also from Grammy and Grandpa.

See how much she loves her scarf . . . she wore it all day . .. this ballerina is from Mercedes too.

Kaitlyn also got a cute outfit from Mercedes. So cute. Thank you!

What?

   We then spent the rest of the day tying a blanket to take to the hospital, and then going to my sister Kim's house . . . which my kid's think is Jayden's house . . . . and eating lots of food and being with family! Kim . . . I took NO pics at your house . . . Can you send me some? I know you took some. :)
Merry Christmas to all!