Christmas Eve...

I am probably the very last person in all of

Bloggerland

to post our Christmas pictures!

Oh well,

this blog is intended to be

our Life Journal,

so better late than never, I guess!

~

Christmas Tree 2012

Its a fake tree.

I'm not a huge fan of it.

We paid $200 for the tree,

and the second year half the light went out.

This year most of the lights went out.

We already bought new lights

for next year!

And the Star on top kept

falling off...

rather than having it fall of daily and

risk it practically killing someone,

we kept it off.

Memories.

This year we went to the

4:30 Christmas Eve services...

We were late and had to sit in the very last row.

The kids couldn't see and were

restless.

The baby slept in Daddy's arms the whole time though!

At the very end was the Candle lighting part...

both the kids sat very still and held their candles

perfectly.

I was afraid they would light the place on fire!

~

When we got home,

Baby took a nice nap on the bed

while Jon and I made a yummy dinner

of roasted chicken

and mashed potatoes

{and other stuff but I cannot remember!}

The kids sprinkled the reindeer food outside.

On Christmas eve I hurt my back

quite badly and could hardly walk...

and it hasn't been the same since...ick!

~

So while Jon was doing dinner stuff,

and I was laying on ice...

The kids posed for some

Christmas Eve pictures in front of the tree...

I love Christmas eve best of all...

all the happiness.

Everything is glowing.

After a month of anticipation,

it's finally here!

The kids kept running to the window

to look for Santa!

This year was such a fun with them...

they understood the real meaning of Christmas,

yet, they had so much childhood wonder...

they both truly believe in the magic of Santa!

To add to the magic of the evening,

we even pulled out the

crystal goblets

and fancy plates!

The kids were very excited!

In our traditional

Advent ritual

we ate by candle light...

can you say

Cozy!?

Like a perfect baby,

Angelina woke up right after dinner...

so we had to get a few pix of all the kids...

Our failed attempt at a 

family picture...

the kids were too excited to take any more

than just one!

Baby Girl's First Christmas!

The kids were so excited when it was her turn to open a

stocking stuffer!

The kids thought it would be so

funny to tease daddy and give him a

lump of coal

in his stocking.

The kids laughed and laughed

as Daddy opened his lump of coal!

Their excitement over teasing

daddy made Jon and I laugh!

Little do the kids know that I saved that

lump of coal...

next year someone else will be rewarded with it!

{Don't worry, Jon still had stocking stuffers

to go along with the coal...

he wasn't really on the naughty list!}

We always open up  just the

stocking stuffers on

Christmas Eve...

I really think the kids have more fun with the

little stocking stuffers than anything!

The kids are always just as excited

for each other as for themselves!

Love that.

~

The kids went to bed late.

They left cookies and milk on the living room end table

for Santa.

Jon and I stayed up even later...

making monkey bread from scratch for

breakfast and making sure

everything was perfect and magical

for the kids...

Childhood is too short...

and a good memory lasts a

lifetime...