Christmas Eve Parties

We celebrated Christmas Eve a week early with the Mitchells and Moffords. Jess had the party at her house and everyone spoiled the kids rotten. This was actually very nice to have new toys a week before Christmas. They really enjoyed the family gifts this year which sometimes get forgotten after Santa comes. Sean and Kate wore their Mr. and Mrs. Claus jammies the whole week before Christmas.

Thanks Aunt Shell! How did you know this was exactly what we wanted?

I have to say that I love the Mitchell party more than any other event. It is so chill and there are no rules or waiting to open presents. We just start eating and dragging out gifts right from the start. It makes it so much more fun especially when you have kids that have been begging for gifts for days. We can really enjoy the rest of the night once the kids have new stuff to play with. The Moffords are equally as relaxed. We love when we get to hang out with them. They are so nice and thoughtful too.

Aunt Em gave them Angry Bird hats, which was a huge hit.

I know Mom and Grandma will love me for including this photo, but it is so classic. They are always trying to get some new electronic to work.

Super excited to have their new toys lined up and new pjs on.

Bring on the real Christmas Eve with the Barnhisels. This is a major event that takes at least 5 years to recover from. Good thing there are 5 siblings that can get in on the rotation.

The calm before the storm. Kate and Kyle. So cute.

Kate with our new reindeer, Dancer. You have no idea what I went through to bring this little guy home. I fell in love with him at Costco weeks before Christmas. For my bday, I begged Randy to go get him because there was no way I could lift the box especially with kids, nor is my car big enough to put a reindeer in the back. Randy came home and said they were all gone! No! It can't be! So the day before Christmas Eve, I had the dreaded task to go to Costco to stock up for the 30-40 people that would soon invade my house. It was a Christmas miracle! One reindeer left, and it was half off! Well even though the lines were an hour long and you couldn't beat your way through the crowd, I had to have him. I stood by him until some poor stock boy walked by. I told him I must have this reindeer and that I couldn't take it home right now but would pay for it. Well, I told Randy he would have to go pick it up after skiing. Do you know what he told me? He said that there WERE reindeer when he went looking for my bday, but he didn't want to get me one!? What the crap! Anyway he obliged and took the truck to pick up our new addition and I have to say this was my favorite gift even if I had to buy it myself. The kids loved having Dancer around even if it was only for a few days. Be warned Scrooge, your bday is coming up, and whatever it is that you want... you're probably getting something lame.

This was the small pile of gifts that Grandma Chris drug in. Sean of course thinks that they are all for him. Now the waiting begins. Unlike the Mitchells, the Barnhisels have to check about a dozen activities off the list before they will let the kids open gifts.

Sean's poor black eye. Sean had a fight with the corner of the wall and the wall won big time. Dada may have had a little something to do with this too...he always seems to be around when someone gets hurt...but I'm sure that's just a coincidence...he never plays too rough! Poor Sean. When ever he gets hurt, it is always on his face. Such a cute little face too.

The happy hosts.

Grandma Chris is in heaven. There is nothing she likes more than Christmas. You should see her house.

One of the activities that is tradition with the Barnhisels is the Nativity story. We usually don't spend Christmas Eve with Randy's family, so this was new to my kids. They refused to dress up, so this is the strangest Mary and Joseph I've ever seen. I'm sure baby Jesus would have loved Kate's soft, purple, blanket though.

Enter in the rest of the cousins. They did a good job, and Shanna outdid herself on the costumes.

Finally it was time to see what was in that pile of presents from Grandma. All the little boys got big remote control cars. At this point the party turned from crazy to insane. I quit taking pictures and started running around cleaning up after everyone. It was going to be a long night!

Dylan has to be the sweetest boy I know. Love this kid.

Lydia and Kate have quickly become BFFs. So have Jack and Sean. I was so close to these two when they were little and was always sad that they probably wouldn't ever play with my future kids since the age difference would be so large. I am so happy and surprised what great friends they are to my kids.

Whew! We survived! My kids were so tired that I couldn't even put them to bed. They fell asleep on the couch with their new blankets from Amy while I cleaned and cleaned to get ready for Santa. I feel bad they were asleep before I got the cookies out to give to Santa and read them The Night Before Christmas, but at least I didn't have to wait hours for them to finally go to bed. Good thing we read The Night Before Christmas every day the whole month.

The children we nestled all snug on their couch while visions of Rapunzel and Buzz Lightyear danced in their heads....to be continued.