A Very Merry Christmas

We usually go to my mom & dad's house for Christmas Eve, but this year we had lots of sick family members.
Including my two kiddos who both had ear infections.

So instead, we spent Christmas Eve at home

making cookies

and other sweet treats.

We also continued a new family tradition that we started last year, to read The Pajama Elves. The book tells about some of Santa's elves that make special pajamas for boys & girls & deliver them on Christmas Eve. The special pajamas help the kids snuggle up & sleep tight so that Santa can come visit without being seen.

This year the elves brought Addy a My Little Pony nightgown

and Alex a pair of Skylander pajamas.

Then we spent the rest of the evening hanging out as a family

and trying to figure out what exactly was in those boxes under the Christmas tree!

When it was time for bed, the kids picked out a few of the cookies that they had made earlier that day to leave for Santa.

And then it was time for Mr. & Mrs. Claus to get to work!

Santa brought Addy a kite, a doll, a flash rider & a barn with farm animals.

And Santa brought Alex a wii u, a scooter & the skylander trap team & swap force starter kits.

When we had everything in place, we turned out the lights & went to bed because we never know when Addy might wake up!

She ended up waking up around 7:00 am. Nick was already awake but of course, I was not! So she came & woke me up & told me that Santa had come! We tried to wake up Alex, but with his double ear infections, he just was not feeling well & did not want to get up. 

So Addy ended up opening all her gifts before Alex even woke up!

A-Man finally woke up around 10

and wasted no time opening his gifts!

The wii u was by far his favorite gift & has done almost nothing else since Christmas!

The aftermath!