Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve this year. Here we are gathered around the tree, the kids in their new pj's. I made a personal rule years ago not be photographed in a grey and especially not in a grey sweater because it makes you look like a whale, but I thought it would be okay until I saw the picture. From now on I'm really sticking to my rule!

Grandma, Grandpa, Trina, Wes and Kambree were able to come back to our home for Christmas. We really stretched our celebration out this year! We took the kids to see the temple lights on Tuesday night.

Christmas Eve day we left Grandma at home with Samuel and Bella to make rice balls, while the rest of us did some last minute shopping and errands. The kids absolutely love this treat! I called to check on Grandma and she was really worn out. Of course all her Bella stories were just a typical day for me!

Our Christmas Eve meal took forever! My family likes to have shrimp and french fries, however we usually make them at my parents home with their monster fry daddy. I only have a fry baby so we could not really mass produce the meal. Instead we all hoovered around the kitchen island waiting for small portions to be done.

The kids acted out the nativity this year. Grandpa was the donkey and the camel. Grandma had to threaten him to be a calm ride for the kids so they wouldn't get too out of control.

Bella was Mary, Isaac was Joseph, Kambree was an angel and Samuel was the wise man. We need a few more cousins so we can have the rest of the parts!

Singing Christmas songs. Samuel and Bella sang Jingle Bells by themselves. Samuel knew all the words and Bella babbled and got a few words out. It was really cute! We had to do it a few times because Samuel would get mad when Grandpa tried to join in. He didn't want any help!

In Chuck's family they always got a game Christmas Eve and then played it that night so we are also going to do this for our family tradition. The kids really liked playing their bowling game.

And the new tradition that we are starting with our own family is making smores. I love this picture because it's snowing outside and we're roasting marshmallows over our fire pit!