Christmas Eve 2015

We had the most wonderful & magical Christmas this year! The girls are at such fun ages and then having my parents here with us just icing on the cake. They got here on the afternoon of the 23rd, and since we knew their visit would be relatively short (only 5 days) we hit the ground running! We took them to the girls' favorite restaurant on the way home from the airport--Chick-fil-a, of course! Then after naps, we headed out to Sea World for the night! We didn't get any good pictures, but it was a really fun & mild evening! The girls enjoyed seeing all of the lights, a Christmas sea lion show, and riding rides with Grammy & Grampy! Hadley rode the carousel about ten times in a row and Shelby rode the kiddie rollercoaster about ten times in a row, thankfully the two rides are right next to each other. :)

The best pic we got, we were too busy having fun!
Shelby & Hadley loved having Grammy & Grampy at Sea World, they each took turns riding with them!

Our first full day with Grammy & Grampy was Christmas Eve!! We started off our morning with donuts, and then Derek & my dad headed out to play a round of golf together while us girls stayed home to get ready for Santa!

Shelby wanted to write a note for Santa to leave out with his milk & cookies. Also, please note she's using one of my Sharpie pens...she's obsessed with him. We try to keep them hidden b/c they are my "good pens," but if she happens to spy one she has to immediately stop whatever she is doing to write a list or a note to someone. ;)

Making cookies for Santa!

That evening we all headed to the children's Christmas Eve service. I wish we would have gotten a pic of all us dressed up, but oh well! All of the kiddos got to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus at the end of the service & blow out his birthday candles...and the girls of course loved the fact that they got to bring a cupcake home from church. :)

All bathed and ready for a few Christmas Eve traditions before bedtime--reading the 24th book under our tree (Twas the Night Before Christmas), opening a present, and setting everything out for Santa & his reindeer!

 

Granddad & Grandma sent a VERY big present for the girls, and it was one of the first gifts under our tree! Shelby had been telling us all month long that this was the first gift she wanted to open for Christmas--she was very excited to tear into that wrapping paper and finally find out what was inside!

Checking out their new gift from Granddad & Grandma--it was a big hit!

Goldfish & Twas the Night Before Christmas :)

Carefully picking out cookies for Santa :)

 

Shelby's note for Santa :)

After we got the girls to bed, Santa's helpers got to work! It was so nice to have two extra sets of hands to get everything ready for Christmas morning :)  We did have one minor scare when Shelby nervously came down the stairs (she NEVER comes out of her room after the door has been closed!) to tell us we'd forgotten to leave the ladder out on our back for Santa! Since we've never had a chimney in our houses since Shelby was born, this is our solution to not having a chimney! ;)

So as I'm typing this post, I'm reminded of something that happened a couple of weeks ago. Shelby adores reading through each of our blog books. Well, wouldn't you know, a couple of days before my parents arrived I stumbled across her reading a previous Christmas Eve post where I wrote about Derek & I playing Mr. and Mrs. Claus and filling the girls' stockings...OMG! I almost had a panic attack! With each post I've written over the years, I've always hoped the printed blog books would serve as keeper of our family memories to enjoy down the road....but I never envisioned our five year old reading all of my words, eek! Note to self--don't let her read the blog books unsupervised!!! ;)

I wasn't planning to split our Christmas posts up, but since there's so many pictures I think I will :)  Next up, Christmas morning!