Christmas Eve

It has become a tradition to get a new Lego set for Christmas Eve and Doug spends the morning putting it together with the girls. 

 We let them unwrap them right after breakfast. 

 We had Abi open the main one. When I ordered I got an extra Elf set for free so Maddy opened that package.

Showing the new sets...

 

This year we got the cutest Santa's workshop that even came with Santa's sleigh. 

They loved spending the morning and some of the afternoon putting it together while I prepared for Christmas dinner and our Christmas Eve traditions. 

The set...

Doug's siblings were getting together for dinner that night. Originally we were told it would be in the afternoon so that is what we were planning. 

When it was said that it would be at night instead we talked about what we wanted to do. 

We both decided that we would stop by and say hi to everyone but then come home for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and activities.

The girls like to go to bed early on Christmas Eve and we knew that if we stayed out later we would be unable to do all of our traditions or be staying up really late to do them. 

So, we stopped by for a few minutes and loved being able to see everyone. 

Wendy's mother in law with little Claire. Maddy was excited that they matched. 

As we were leaving we saw a huge herd of deer crossing the road so I made Doug drive up to them so the girls could see them.

When we got home the dinner was almost ready so I finished prep for that and we had a really nice dinner. 

I always make Cafe Rio Enchiladas. So yummy. 

After dinner the girls took their magical reindeer food out into the backyard and scattered it for Santa's reindeer. 

Then we got out the Christmas Eve bag!

Every Christmas Eve we each get new pajamas and a new book.

But we also get a new Christmas book, a new movie, and a new family game for all of us. 

The girls getting ready to open their packages. 

Maddy was really excited about her new lift the flap Winnie the Pooh book. 

(pictures of jammies will show up in a minute)

 

Abi was also really happy with her new fairy series. 

Doug got Unbroken.

(To be honest... he is not much of a reader so every year I get him books that he may read but I know I will. Sneaky.)

I got the next book in the Five Kingdoms series by Brandon Mull. 

And there are my cozy new pajamas. 

Doug opened the new movie.
Maleficent!

Maddy opened the new book...

Splat the Cat!

And then Abi opened the new game. 

Disney Pictopia!

As you can see in the above photos, Abi had already changed into her new pajamas. 

So at this point the rest of us got into our jammies. 

I just LOVE their owl pajamas from Gymboree. 

Showing off their new books and jammies....

Then Abi pulled out a bag that she had put under the tree for us to open on Christmas Eve. 

She had made cards and loom band bracelets for all of us. 

So sweet. 

Now that all of the unwrapping was done we settled in and read our new book and played our new game. 

Then we put out our milk and cookies for Santa and the girls went to bed.