The Jingle in my Sleigh Bells

On Christmas Eve Lola and Papa came over for our little Christmas Eve Party. Nathan, Rose, and Ginger had been sick 3-5 days before so I didn't have much time to prepare for Christmas. Also, Ken ended up working for two days that we thought he would take off. Sooooo, Christmas Eve came just as it does. Luckily I had prepared most things before Thanksgiving (even down to having frozen funeral potatoes) and our holiday turned out pretty good. I did make fresh rolls for the kids but other then that the whole dinner went from Frozen to Thawed and then Heated.

With Lola present of course the party started out with dancing. Here are some clips of Rose and Ken dancing, and of all the kids.



We spent the rest of Christmas Eve playing games and hanging out.




Then we opened presents from Lola and Papa and my Sister's family. The kids were very happy to get an early start on the presents.

It's amazing how the two months between Ginger's Birthday and Christmas totally transformed her attitude towards opening presents. She wasn't interested on her 1st birthday, but for Christmas she was quite the rascal and was more then happy to tear into the presents. In fact we had to re-wrap a number of them before Christmas even came because she would get into them.

Nathan was ecstatic when he recieved some money from Lola and Papa. Why??? He opened the envelope saw the money and said "Yes, I can pay Mom back now!" (He still owed me $12 because he had to replace the mail key that he lost) It was a huge relief for him to get his debt paid off. Which he tried to do immediately, we convinced him to wait until the day after Christmas to settle his accounts.

The boys loved the Nerf laser tag that their auntie sent them. They we shooting all around the house the rest of the night.


Ken and Papa opening presents.


Rose and Ginger loved the Rose Petal Cottage that my sister sent them. It was amazing that this big tent play house came out of such a tiny box.