Christmas Eve

We had a really enjoyable Christmas Eve. Tyson's parents and his brother all showed up in the early afternoon.  So we chatted for awhile and then went for a nice family dinner at Wingers. Later that night the kids put on a Christmas Concert for us.  Drake and Garrett just started playing the piano about a month ago so all 4 kids were able to play some piano pieces. Lexi started playing trumpet in the 6th grade band this year so she also played a few songs on the trumpet for us.  They all did a really nice job and it was fun to let them show off their skills for the whole family.

Then we let the kids open the traditional Christmas Eve present. Of course they knew it would be pajamas and they've been teasing me about it for weeks. Maybe next year I'll have to surprise them with something else entirely. No one wants to be to predictable!

Once everyone was all cozy and snug we settled in to watch our favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story ("You'll shoot your eye out!") Then the kids went to bed.....or at least they were sequestered in a bedroom for the rest of the night. How much sleep anyone got is somewhat debatable!  After that the men went to the college to collect the bigger items (don't you wish you had a huge cadaver lab to store your children's presents in!) and worked them over to make sure they were in good working condition in the morning. I set to work cooking food and stuffing stockings. Sometimes I wish there really was a Santa and a bunch of Elves to do all this work!