We had such a perfect Christmas Eve! It was full of yummy food, good friends, and celebrating the best holiday of the year...we loved it!
Some of our friends hosted a Hot Chocolate Social in the early afternoon, so we spent a couple of hours there just chatting with friends and enjoying yummy treats and hot chocolate. The kids were in heaven, of course, with so many friends to play with.
After we left their house, we headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. It's our tradition to eat out as a family on Christmas Eve. We don't do it too terribly often, so it's a special treat. Since we're in Texas, it seems only natural to have Mexican. ☺ A lot of people had the same idea, because the place was packed! It was delicious--I think it will be tradition as long as we're here!
When we got home, it was time for Christmas pajamas and our annual Nativity. Oh boy. The Nativity is always an interesting experience, because you just never know exactly what's going to happen. We were excited to have a baby Jesus this year (a real one, at least), but she's extremely mobile, so we weren't sure if she was even going to stay in the manger. We switched some parts around, and ended up doing it a couple of times, because both of the girls wanted to be Mary. Henry was Joseph, Jack was the Shepherd, the girls were Mary and the Angel, Caroline played baby Jesus, Ryan was the donkey, Rick was the Narrator, and I was managed the camera. We fill out the parts quite nicely, lol! It fulfilled our expectations of being a wonderful experience, and a crazy one. :)
{Henry...in a sweet, unrehearsed moment}
{Nativity 2013}
We put out food for Santa and the reindeer...
Tracked Santa on NORAD...
and tucked everyone into bed. Since their bedrooms on the main floor, they all sleep upstairs in the playroom on Christmas Eve and have a sleepover. They love it, and we like having them be able to come down together to see the tree in the morning. They were asleep in less than 20 minutes--it had been a long and exciting day!
Rick and I turned on a Christmas movie, and started our annual Christmas Eve wrapping party. We started this years ago, and somehow it continued, and now it's one of our favorite things. We were done in a couple of hours, finished our movie, checked on the kids, and were in bed before midnight!
Good night.
