Christmas Eve 2012

Elfie on his last night here....we'll miss the little guy!  See ya next year Elfie!

This year, we hosted Christmas Eve. It was Gin's tradition (and still the Hulchers') to do soup on Christmas Eve. That's what I did a couple years ago, so we decided that would be our on-going tradition whenever we host. I made 3 different soups and invited all the grandparents and Jake over to celebrate with us. It was really nice for me to watch the kids in their excitement and be with family. Fielder is not quite to the point that he can be happily handed off to someone (can we say "Mama's Boy"?!) so each of these photos were taken moments before a melt-down!

Mom is wearing Grandpa's Christmas vest....I can still picture him wearing it on Christmas night at his house for pizza and presents!

We let the kids open a couple more gifts - these were from Brooke Southard.  I think Brooke knows how much Claire loves books - she got an Olivia book and a Sesame Street workbook.  Fielder also got 2 books, which Claire will occasionally let him see.  I didn't get too many pictures other than her opening and Fielder standing on top of her gift!


After dinner and dessert, it was time to get everything set up for Santa and try to get some sleep!  (I didn't think Claire would go to bed so easily...at one point she was literally trying to fly she was so hyped up.)  Claire put a cookie out for Santa - only 1 of course because she wanted the rest - and she left him a card and bracelet she had made.

Last step was to leave some oats and a carrot on the deck for the reindeer!

We read The Night Before Christmas and shockingly, both kids went right to bed!  It was really a great Christmas Eve with so many fun memories!  My favorite night of the year!