Christmas Eve

We had a very quiet Christmas Eve as a family this year. We hosted Christmas dinner for 23 people so I spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen and cleaning up the house but in between that we played games, watched movies and basically waited for night to arrive! After dinner, we opened a few presents...our traditional jammies and a book as well as gifts from Taylor and Maddie to one another. This year, Maddie got Taylor a barbie dog (let's just say it didn't work and Taylor was quite upset about the whole thing) and Taylor got Maddie a zhu zhu pet and a purse for it. After gifts, it was time to put out santa letters, the milk, cookies and carrots for the reindeer. Maddie informed us that she would know if rudolph came if ALL the carrots were gone, not just a bite from them. Not quite sure how she knew this? :)

Please excuse Taylor's face...she had been crying for about an hour about her dog not working..poor girl- when she cries her face gets all blotchy and red just like mine does :)

Maddie really wanted to take a picture of Dave and I....I thought she did pretty well :)

The girls outside throwing their reindeer food- this was the year they discovered that our fireplace didn't have an actual chimney....can you say panic? Thank goodness for reindeer food on the grass.

The girls setting everything out for Santa!

Taylor's note to Santa. It reads: "I do not care if I get a go go pup but I really want a go go pup!" Please note that I was TERRIFIED of her reaction on Christmas morning because Santa didn't bring her a go-go pup...she had to wait until that night when my mom brought her one. You should have seen her face! Priceless.

Maddie's list....translation from top to bottom: "Maddie. Santa. Kids Apple (apples to apples game for kids- starts on 2nd line and moves up to top!). Jeans. Wii game. Ds Game. Not sure on next one. Moving to last page....Guitar (look at that G- it had Dave and I in stitches!), go go dog. zhu zhu pet. LOVE THIS LIST!!

Merry Christmas with love!