Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful and busy Christmas Eve. Adam and I spent the morning cleaning the house, cooking food and wrapping presents so we wouldn't be up all night doing it (we were still up 'till 1:00). At 4:00 we headed to my Mom's house in Saratoga Springs for dinner. My entire family was able to be there together and it was so fun. My Mom buys the grand kids each their own little bottle of Martinellis sparkling cider and it is the highlight of the dinner. That and the olives. What is with kids and olives? Truly, we could give them each their own plate of olives and a cup full of cider and they would be delighted.

After dinner we gathered around and my Dad read the Christmas story from the "Big White Bible" and my Mom read "Jolly Old Santa Claus". My family has very specific traditions and we do the same thing every year. After singing some carols the kids FINALLY got to open their presents. My parents gave us a really nice hand grinder for our wheat, which we are old and boring enough to be really excited about. I remember a few years ago at Christmas, one of my younger sisters asked me what I got for Christmas. I told her excitedly that I got a carpet cleaner.

She told me I was old.

She really hasn't asked me what I got for Christmas since. I'm too boring I guess.

Anyway, Hailey got makeup, which she was very excited about because her mother won't buy her any until she's twelve, and we can buy real makeup and give her a lesson on proper application techniques. But Grandmas operate under a different set of rules then parents do.
Maggie got a "Pucci Puppy" in a purse and Logan got a really cool transformer that his mom isn't smart enough to transform, so it's just a cool helicopter until he's old enough to figure it out himself!

Erin, KC, Elekttra, PJ, Hailey and Maggie counter clockwise at the "Kids table". Erin is actually 25, but a kid at heart.

Maggie, Logan and Hailey.

My Dad, Mom, Shannon, Katie and her new husband Eric.


Paul, Jen, James' shoulder because he hates having his picture taken, My Dad, Mom and Shannon. We're at the "Grown up " table but whether all of use should be there or not is debatable.

Madison opening her present. She was so funny and in such a great mood all night. She was totally sleep deprived and a little slap happy.

Dad reading the Christmas story

Eric, Shannon, Madison and Jennifer and some unidentified feet. James, is that you?


Maggie and I snuggling on Grandmas "chair and a half".



Elekttra got hair clips and decided to wear them ALL. B E A U T I F U L!

Next we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Heaton's house (1/2 and hour late). We had a great time there too, but in my frazzled state of being late I forgot to take any pictures. :(
It's such a cozy place to be for Christmas. There's always a fire and music an lots of good food. Hailey got new clothes and coordinating jewelry. Maggie got a robe (She's ALWAYS wanted one, but has yet to use it. Hmmm), and blendy pens. They are really cool markers that you can blend together to make new colors. Maggie LOVES to color. Logan got a really cool, albeit noisy, forklift. It's really cool too. I got a great new cookbook and cookie jar and Adam got a huge set of screwdrivers, which is great because I can never find a screwdriver when I need one. Why is that?

Then we headed home to leave milk and cookies out for Santa, get the kids to bed and set out all of the "Stuff". We didn't buy that much this yea and we were still setting up until midnight!


This is the letter we left for Santa and his "reply".

This year, Adam got visits from "Santa's reign deer". They were Rudolph, Cupid and his favorite "Flasher", Dashers naughty twin. He REALLY liked his "gift", but that's all I'm going to say about it. Check out romanticmarriges.com if your curious.

We go to bed around 1:00 but, as always I had a hard time falling asleep. I finally dosed off at 2:30, but the baby woke up at 5:00 and when I went back to bed, I had a bear in my room. (This is my not-so-polite way of saying Adam was snoring), so I went to the couch in the basement, but the kids were already awake and bouncing around in their rooms, making a racket, so I didn't get any more sleep.

And then it was Christmas!