Christmas Eve

I totally love Christmas Eve.  My brother and sister and their families all gather at my parent's house for a day of fun.  We were hoping to do some sledding this year, but it was -1 degrees, so we opted for indoor activities.  We had the kids do a few rounds of Christmas Carol charades, and then we took turns reading The Night Before Christmas.  We also did a Christmas madlib to go along with it.  The kids kept themselves entertained pretty well while the adults played ping-pong and made supper.  We ate ham, turkey, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, green beans, asparagus, fruit, and rolls.  Yum!  Then we all got ready for church.  Adley wore a dress that my mom made for me when I was a baby, 

and Alaina fit in the matching outfit that was once my sister's!  How cool is that?

The church service was really great!  We sang a lot of Christmas carols with a modern accompaniment (which I loved), the readings were meaningful and convicting, and Parker got to hold his own candle during Silent Night.  There were so many old friends to catch up with.  I'm pretty sure we were the last ones to leave =)

Then, the night got a little hairy.  Let me preface - Back when my sister and her husband were just dating, Nate started this tradition that he would try to drive down the dirt road by our house with his truck after church to see if he could make it without getting stuck.  One year, he did get stuck and had to walk to the neighbors (no cell phones yet), drink a "horrible cup of coffee," and call my dad to come get him out.  It's been a few years now since he's driven down the dirt road, but Ryan caught wind of it and decided he wanted in.  There was already a decent amount of snow on the ground, and it was snowing a majority of the day.  Nate, Ryan, Parker and Hunter went on their little adventure while the rest of us went home to get ready to open presents.  After we had been home about 15 minutes, I realized that the boys should've been home by now.  We tried calling Nate's phone and heard it buzz.  Guess he didn't bring it.  Then we tried Ryan's...we also heard his in the house.  Awesome!  They didn't bring their phones!  Dad got on his warm clothes and set out to rescue them.  He found them quickly, but one of them was missing...Ryan. Somehow I knew he wouldn't be in the truck when they got there.  He was hoofin' it through the field to my uncle's house to get help.  You can ask him how that went ;)  Nate called Nat to tell her that Ryan went for help, so she assumed he went to the nearest road.  In her words, she was "driving down the road, yelling his name, wondering if he was buried in the snow."  Somehow we figured out Ryan was at my Uncle's house, so she went and picked him up there.  They headed back to my parent's after his feet thawed, and we FINALLY got to open presents.  Unfortunately our 1 year old nephew, Mark, had to go to bed before they got back.  I think they might try to continue this tradition a little earlier in the day next year ;)    

The present-opening got off to an unusual start.  Parker walked right upstairs and took the big bag off his present and said, "Well - I guess this is my tractor."  It's like the kid knew all along what he was getting.

Adley enjoyed the presents and the paper that covered them ;)

Parker filled his wagon with the rest of his presents.

Hunter got a sweet Lego Bible.

And Alaina, who has a  killer voice for an 8 year old, got a karaoke machine!

When we were finished, Ryan and Nate had to go get the loader and dig Nate's truck out while the rest of us finished off the cookies.

The next morning, the boys did this for a while. 

Markie got a sweet police car and lawn mower.  

Adley loved that thing. 

She also got a little pink tractor.

We only have video of Parker's present because we really wanted to see his reaction when he opened his truck with a trailer with a skid loader on it!  He started unwrapping, got a glimpse of it, looked up and smiled at us, and then ripped the rest of the wrapping paper off.  He played with it SO much the next couple of days.  He would use the skid loader to fill the trailer up with Lincoln Logs and then haul them from one end of the room to the other and build a house.  It has fit in well with the rest of his toys at home now, too.