Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas Eve was peaceful. We continued our tradition of having our big meal that night so that we can relax and not cook on Christmas Day. Since we missed out on Thanksgiving dinner, or at least one that we make, we had it for Christmas. We made turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and rolls. Jack and Luke would only eat the turkey and rolls, which was very annoying. After dinner, the kids opened their pajamas and we made Santa's cookies.

Rolling out our traditional sugar cookies.

Just 4 hours to go!!!

This years decorations

By the time we wrapped everything up, it was past bedtime. There was so much excitement! Luke kept squealing and the older kids tried to negotiate an extra-early wake up. We finally decided they could come into our room at 6:30 and if anyone wasn't up by 7, we would wake them. The girls were up super early and the boys woke just before 7, so the plan worked well. In one funny moment, Thomas was wearing his pajamas from several years ago and I was wearing last years set. Just before going downstairs, we looked at each other in surprise. He had changed to match me and I had changed to match him! We agreed on last years set and I changed back (normally, we all get matching pajamas, but I waited too long this year and couldn't find something that had all our sizes, it was a struggle to find matching kids' pajamas).

We came downstairs, opened our stockings and took pictures. Then, we began gift-opening. We try not to spoil the kids, but we also really like Christmas. It is generally the only time of year they get presents. For their birthday, they usually choose a party or an outing (like Great Wolf Lodge) and we hold firm that the outing or party is their gift. We do occasionally buy them the random surprise, but I would much rather plan a trip or experience than buy toys (of which they have plenty). But, on Christmas, all bets are off! Still, we try not to go too crazy. This year, they each had about 10 presents from us, 2 from Santa, gift cards from their Grandpas and gifts from our favorite neighbor. Then, they each got each other presents.

Sweet

Silly

Speaking of which, we were super impressed with Jack. He started saving his allowance early and put a lot of thought into what he wanted to get people. He chose great, meaningful gifts.

I teased Jack that this was his best gift. He opened it to find socks and underwear (I don't think I counted that in his gift count)

We opened a few presents and broke for breakfast casserole. We were pretty leisurely with our unwrapping and didn't finish until about 11. Kara spent the rest of the day building Legos. Everyone else also ran off with their gifts. I worked on a puzzle I had received and played games with the kids.

All Luke wanted for Christmas was Pie Face. He was very cute about it. At one point Thomas handed him a gift that was large and oddly shaped. Luke exclaimed, "I think this is Pie Face!!!" Pie Face comes in a normal, small box, so he was very wrong, but it was cute and funny. Fortunately, Santa came through and we played several rounds of Pie Face.

Thomas made it through two rounds before he got creamed.

Luke got pie'd 2/3

Kara was 3/3

I was also 2/3

We also played Banagrams and Monopoly Cheaters Edition. Jack got Settlers of Catan, but we have not played that yet. I got a fun game, Spontuneous. We played that today and had a great time. I love playing games and am so glad (most of) the kids are old enough to be solid participants.

Luke's favorite gifts were Splatoon 2 and Pie Face
Anna's was her bike
Kara's was Heartlake Resort Legos
Jack's was Super Smash Brothers
Thomas' was a book from the 1800s about Mount Vernon
Mine was Thomas' "honey do" coupons. I can give him one large project each month for all of 2019. I'm already working on that list!

Everyone was happy and cooperative. Thankfully, no one compared gifts, which would definitely make me crazy.