Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas Eve was a busy one . . . which I think is probably good. It's probably the longest day of the year for kids!

I slept for a few hours that morning as I had worked a Monday day-shift and night-shift. We had signed Miles up to do a 2-hour drive-time with an instructor and so he was doing that from 9-11. Then we headed over to a friend's home for a brunch/lunch. There was another family there and it was a good time with some good food!

We left a little after 1 and dropped off our kids to watch the new Star Wars movie. While they were at the theater, Ben and I were home wrapping all the gifts (I hadn't wrapped a single one yet!). It was perfect. The kids came home (they all enjoyed the movie) and we got ready for dinner. We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner of Swedish meatballs. We had three missionaries over to join us and that was fun.

After they left, we dropped in at our neighbor's Christmas Eve party. We didn't stay for long, but just more of a "Hi and goodbye" thing. When we got back the kids opened up their siblings' gifts.

 Here they are getting ready, while watching Santa via NORAD.

 In their Christmas PJs. Miles hated his onesie, ha! They all looked cute, though . . . The sibling gifts were fun and sweet. They all use their own money. Miles got Jonas a knit tie, gave Emmy a drawing he made per her request, and got Lucy something . . . a hand-me-down item of sorts, I think. Jonas got books for the girls and a knit-tie for Miles. Emmy spent a lot of money, buying treats for the them all, plus a funny John Lennon candle for Miles, some awesome "manly" soap for Jonas, and some super-expensive "unicorn" lip-gloss for Lucy, as well as cute treble-clef earrings. Lucy got Miles a prism thing, Jonas some cool slime, and Emmy some earrings and a mood ring. Fun, fun!

We watched an episode of The Middle and then it was time for bed . . .

The kids all slept downstairs in the boys' room. That helps us (the parents) as we get ready for the morning! They played Monopoly for a bit and then I gave them some Melatonin (since Emmy complained sooooo much about how she sleeps horribly on Christmas Eve . . .), and then they read books and finally fell asleep. :)

Christmas morning! The kids came in at 7am and woke Ben and I up with a "Merry Christmas!"

 Lucy running down to see what Santa delivered!

 Jonas was super-surprised and happy with his phone! (A Gabb phone - one that just lets you call and text. No social media, online access, etc. So perfect.)

 Miles giving the thumbs-up for his wireless headphones.

 Emmy was delighted with her Gabb phone, too!

 The girls tried on their beautiful dresses from Grandma Dixie.

 Santa gave the boys crickets to eat. Jonas' were flavored sour cream and onion; Miles' were salt and vinegar. They ate them with friends today. Gross.

 Emmy getting her first phone call - from Dad. :)

 Lucy loving her "fake" phone and Polly Pocket toys.

 Emmy taking a picture of Dad for her contact list. He fluffed out his hair for a funny effect. :)

 Lucy loved her unicorn slippers and bathrobe!

The boys were surprised with a Stranger Things lego set. It's pretty awesome!

 Emmy and Jonas love their phones! Emmy set Uncle Derek's picture as her home screen. So awesome!

 I am pretty sure Jonas and Emmy were texting each other here. :)

 Santa didn't forget the dogs. Brigham enjoyed eating his bone thing! Bella enjoyed becoming a possessive devil over hers!

Here the boys were working on their lego set. With Miles listening on his headphones. :)

The rest of the day was spent with new toys, walking the dogs (well, for the parents), and eating a ham dinner. Jonas had the almond in his rice pudding on Christmas Eve and so he got to chose our Christmas movie (for the third year in a row). He originally chose Avatar (much to my chagrin) and ended up not liking it and so we watched Home Alone. It was only my kids' second time watching it (years ago) and so it was fun to watch it again!

Merry Christmas!