Christmas Eve

Isaac got to open one last birthday gift that came in the mail from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Leslie.

Christmas Eve, we went over to Mike’s parents house for an amazing dinner of homemade rolls, homemade pie, Honeybaked Ham, and the list goes on.

The nativity went rather smoothly this year.

Jameson thought the noises from the animals were much too loud.

Each family came prepared to share a quick Christmas thought or story.  The highlight of my night was when Ron sang the Drummer Boy and had us listen carefully to the words in it.  He sung it at his mom’s funeral, it being her favorite song.

After Christmas Eve with the fam, we came home for our traditional opening of the pjs.  We’ve also opened up a Christmas book every year and read it to the kids before bed. 

Here are the kiddos with their new pjs and comfy socks.

Mike and I opened our pjs and socks and went to put them on.  This is Dagen waiting for me to come out.  Can every mom relate to this picture.  We just never get a break, not even in the bathroom.  Cracks me up.

Everyone was excited and ready for Christmas.

More Holiday Fun

Mike’s parents took us out to a really good chinese restaurant that’s been around for sometime.  Good service, good food.

Even though Halloween has come and gone, the “hippie” still lives deep within Dagen.  She just can’t stop telling people, “peace, baby.”

After chinese, we went to McCormick Railroad.  On the way though, we had to stop at this crazy house full of lights.  We could see it from miles away.  This will definitely be a stop for us every Christmas.

The owner had tables filled with Christmas things you could purchase for a very reasonable price.  We were impressed. 

Afterwards, we made it the McCormick Railroad to ride their train through the lights.  But when we got there, we saw the line would take over an hour to get through.  It was forever long.  I guess we had chosen one of the busiest days to go.  So we debated awhile and decided we’d just come back another time when it was less crowded and enjoy what we could here.  So we got hot chocolate and ice cream, rode the merry go round, said hi to the characters, and visited the train museums.

Dagen was too scared to stand next to Scooby Doo the first time, but see how she bravely stands next to him in the second?  While riding the merry go round, Cookie Monster came and stood next to her and Dagen could see into the mouth of the costume.  She saw a person inside and from then on, lost all fear, knowing they weren’t real characters.  She kept screaming during the ride, “He’s not WEAL!  He’s NOT!  I  can see a face inside!  Everybody, HE’S NOT WEAL!”  I tried my best to shoosh her.

These guys thought it was so funny that we were enjoying both a hot steaming cup of cocoa and a freezing cone of ice cream.

These kids were beat!  Isaac was the only one of the four who made it home awake.

We never made it back for the train ride, but I’ve heard from many, that’s it’s totally worth it. 

We’ll be there next year!