Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas! Here are two of Santa's elves sitting on our couch waiting for the festivities to begin. Christmas Eve 2010 was quite different than Christmas Eve 2009. For starters, this year it rained cats and dogs, which was disappointing after last years Christmas Eve snow storm. We were also trying to create wonderful Christmas memories for our children while at the same time packing and preparing for a trip to California on Christmas Day. It was definitely a busy and eventful couple of days, but ones we will treasure and remember for many years.

We spent Christmas Eve eating German food, reading Christmas stories, and reenacting the Christmas story with our children. This year was the first year we've been able to do it and it was precious. It made me remember the years I was able to reenact the nativity when I was a child. I still remember doing this with my neighborhood preschool class. I played Joseph while my good friend was Mary and her little brother was baby Jesus.

I love these kiddos!

Because we were leaving the next day for California, we decided to open mom and dad presents on Christmas Eve and then we'd only have Santa gifts to open on Christmas morning. This worked well for this year, however, I think we'll go back to our usual tradition of doing them both on Christmas morning. Here is a picture of the kids discovering their presents from the staircase. We decided to surprise them by not telling them we would be opening presents on Christmas Eve. They were absolutely thrilled!

Here is our tree prior to the presents being opened.

Andrew was delighted with this great airplane/airport set I found at Costco. I knew he would love it because it is one of his most favorite toys he plays with each week at physical therapy.

Laurel was completely surprised with her new Radio Flyer tailspin trike for big kids. With the pull of a lever, the trike will spin in a circle while in the process of moving forward. I was sad that it didn't come in my size!