Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2013 was WAY better than Christmas Eve 2012. Last year on Christmas Eve Kaylee woke us up at like 4:00 in the morning to tell us Brenna had thrown up in her bed. The rest of that day was filled with more of the same. Brenna felt awful and was super whiny. She just wanted me to hold her all day, but that wasn't possible, since McKell was only 4 months old and still very mommy-dependent. It was pretty miserable for everyone.

So, this year we were really hoping for an improvement. :)

During the day we baked cupcakes, cleaned up the house, and finished (ahem, Russ) our last-minute shopping. 

I like to save our big, nice holiday dinner for Christmas day, rather than Christmas Eve, because there always seems to be a lot of things keeping us busy on Christmas Eve, and the following day is much more relaxed. So, our family Christmas Eve dinner tradition is . . . cold cereal! Everyone gets to pick whatever cereal they want. The kids love it.

After dinner we changed into our costumes and did our re-enactment of The Nativity. Being the only male in our family, Russ is pretty much destined to be Joseph from now until the kids are too old to act out the story any more. 

Ashlyn - wiseman, Russ - Joseph, McKell - angel, Kaylee - Mary, Brenna - shepherd

Just a nice shot of our 4 pretty girls with the tree.

We always got Christmas Eve pajamas when I was growing up, and I love doing the same with my kids. McKell isn't ever interested in posing for pictures, but you can sort of see her behind the other girls (her jammies match Brenna's).

And here's what the room looked like after the "big buy" had visited. :) So fun! I couldn't wait for the morning!!!

And here's the roll of wrapping paper we hung from the entry to the hallway where the kids' rooms are. Gotta keep prying eyes away from the goods during the night. :)