Could it really be Christmas Eve?!? Apparently December has all but gone in a flash! Our entire holiday season has been "off" this year - I blame it on the kitchen. It always feels better to be able to blame your woes on something else ;)
Today we said goodbye to Grammy and Paca ... they headed off to Seattle to spend Christmas with my brother Ryan's family. We are so glad we got to have them for a few days! We've been lucky to have them for lots of Christmases and will feel strange without them here tomorrow. We made sure to open gifts from them before they left - they always buy PJs for the kiddos and they were really looking forward to seeing what Grammy picked out this year. She did not disappoint ... Buzz Lightyear for Cougar and some darling owls for the girls!
After we got back from the airport it was time to get busy! I whipped up a batch of addiction to take down to Steve's office to go along with the subway art that I sent in for everyone. Then I had to buckle down to make toffee and dip the 80+ mint oreo truffles I made a few days ago. With it being Christmas Eve we really needed to get plates of goodies together to take to our home teaching and visiting teaching families along with a few other friends and neighbors. Boy, did it take a lot of time to get them ready!
After the plates were ready we spent a few hours in the car making deliveries ... the entire family went and took turns going to the doors to drop of our treats and share Christmas wishes from our family!!
Next it was home to make white bean chili for dinner - a family favorite!! We also watched the movie "Elf" together. It is probably my favorite Christmas movie of all time!! We decided that we don't really have many Christmas Eve traditions for our family so we are already talking about what we would like to do next year ... party anyone? We think so!!
Before sending the kids off to bed we sat together and read the Christmas story from the New Testament. This is always an important part of our holiday because it helps us to slow down and remember exactly why we celebrate this time of year.
All of the kids sleep in the playroom together on Christmas Eve every year. This year they decided to make forts inside the playroom ... kinda funny since the room is not that big! It always takes them longer to fall asleep when they're all together, but it makes things better in the morning because they have each other to play/talk/watch movies with since we do not allow them to come out of the playroom until 8 AM - mean parents, we know!
The kiddos did remember to leave a letter to Santa with some cookies and milk. It read:
Dear Santa,
Thank you for the presents. We really appreciate your hard work. To show our gratitude, please enjoy these cookies and the glass of milk. All of us kids wait for you all year long, especially Cougar. He said that he wants to meet Rudolph. We hope that you have a safe journey around the world.
Your friends,
The Holts
The night ended with lots of cleaning up, wrapping a few gifts, stuffing stockings, putting gifts under the tree, snacking, and blogging, of course ;)
On a sadder note, we said goodbye to Cougar's first pet, Toothless, today. He came into our lives on Tuesday and left us sometime between last night and this morning. Cougar was convinced he was taking just napping. Once we explained that he was dead, Steve told him that we can get another fish. He said he doesn't want another fish ... he wants a dog. Poor kid ... not gonna happen!
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