Christmas Eve 2010

My mom and sister A joined us for Christmas this year.  We were grateful to have them both with us.  Our original Christmas Eve Day plans changed slightly when Li'l J woke up with REALLY bad asthma.  After getting NO relief from breathing treatments with our nebulizer, he and I headed to our local urgent care where they gave us just what he needed: a good, strong steroid.  Oh our poor Li'l J!

While Li'l J and I were at the urgent care, C-sta spent some time with J-rod putting the finishing touches on last minute Christmas preparations and M went to the movies to see Yogi Bear with my mom and A.  Li'l J was supposed to have gone to the movies with them, but as sick as he was he got to come home with me, start his meds, and rest so he could participate in the festivities later that night.

Back when I was C-sta's age my mom made me a "Santa" outfit that I wore to a preschool Christmas party.   Once I outgrew it my mom packed it away until I had children of my own.  We pulled it out on Christmas Eve and had C-sta try it on.  It was a perfect fit!

C-sta was a bit shy about wearing it at first but then decided it wasn't so bad after all.   Someday when I get all my childhood photo's scanned, it will be fun to put our photo's side by side!

After C-sta modeled a bit for us, we all sat around the piano where we sang some songs and had the kids help tell the story of the Nativity using some fun handmade puppets given to us by J-rod's brother B and his wife a few years back. (I forgot to get a picture. Next year?) 

After telling the Nativity story and talking about it, we gathered around our main tree to open our traditional first gift: new jammies.  Once everyone had changed into their comfy new jammies, Aunt A read The Night Before Christmas to the kids, the boys decorated cookies and assembled a plate for Santa and his reindeer, and then very excitedly sprinkled "Magic Reindeer Food" on our front lawn to help Santa's reindeer find their way to our home later that night.

~Christmas Eve Magic!~

The excitement of the evening made it a bit challenging to not only get the kids to go to bed, but then to STAY in bed.  Nothing wrong with that!  I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid.  Fortunately Aunt A was able to help J-rod and I wrangle the kids upstairs and then to stay in bed by keeping them company upstairs while J-rod and I worked on getting the downstairs cleaned-up and ready for Christmas morning.