Christmas Eve

I've got to write this or I never will- even though I am exhausted and I know that we will be up bright and early tomorrow- I doubt our little munchkins will let us sleep in tomorrow morning! I even told Audra she had permission to wake us up. She is SOOOO excited for Santa- it is so cute!

Tonight we headed to a Christmas party with my cousins and their families. They are the only family of mine that I have within 800 miles, so it is always a treat to get together with them and they are very kind to invite us every year. We grew up in different states, so I really didn't know them well until I moved here and now over the years I am getting to know them better and it has been really nice. They are some really great people.

Anyway, we had a wonderful dinner and then we had a white elephant. Every gift had to cost exactly $3.43- that was the rule. We cheated- but don't tell anyone.

Claire got to go first. Everybody commented on how cute she was- and she was. As a bonus, this year she didn't break anything! Woo-hoo! Last year she did.(also notice that I finally decided to cut her bangs- it was not easy, but I think it turned out good and now her hair is not constantly in her eyes)

 Here was her gift. There were also some socks. She was SOOOOO excited about her gift. She kept going around to everybody saying, "look what I got! Look what I got!" and showing it off.

 Here's Audra opening her gift:

 She got a Broncos Nerf football. She was not nearly as gracious as Claire, much to our dismay. She kept complaining. So, somebody stole it from her so she could have another change. Instead of getting one of the toys that was already open, she decided to open a new one. She got a water bottle. Maybe that will teach her to be grateful next time.

It was a nice evening. Then we came home and made our final family preparations for Christmas. All month long we have been doing a "Christmas Box." I got this idea from a friend on facebook and thought I would give it a try. Here is the web address of the daily things to do with the Christmas box: http://christmasadventurebox.blogspot.com/

Basically, every day you teach one thing about Christmas and then they open up one gift each night from the Christmas box. For example, you talk about the Three Wise Men and then when they open the Christmas box the three wise men for the nativity are in the box. Because I am me, we ended up doing the Christmas box every 2-3 days, not every night. That's the way we roll in this household.

Audra has actually been awesome about learning the story of the birth of the Savior. She can tell you everything that happened, and she loves to pretend to be Mary riding the donkey and having the baby and such. With this box we have really tried to explain how everything about Christmas relates to Christ- from the lights on houses representing the light of Christ to candy canes representing the shepherd's crook, we have really tried to put Christ in Christmas, and I think Audra got it a little bit. Claire not so much, but she will.

For tonight's Christmas box I talked about Santa and why Santa brings presents. I explained that the greatest present the world has ever known is Jesus Christ, and that Santa wants to show how much he loves Jesus by bringing presents to everyone and that is why we give presents- as a reminder that Christ is our greatest present. Then they opened the box and there was a present for each of them inside. Here is what they got:

Christmas pajamas! I made each of them a pair. They are supposed to be that short on Audra, that is the design of the pants- I just made Claire's longer on purpose. I have heard of people who every year make their kids matching pj's for Christmas and on Christmas Eve they get to open that present. I thought that was a cool idea. Honestly, I don't know if I will do it every year. I am not a great seamstress (as evidenced by the fact that I sewed the two front pieces together for one leg and the two back pieces together for one leg and thus Claire's pj's are completely lopsided, but I didn't realize it until I was completely done so I just left it), and even though I like the idea in theory I am not sure how it will play out in reality. But, this year at least I made them matching pj's and the girls LOVE them and are super excited about them.

Then, we put out the plate of cookies and a super sweet note that Audra meticulously made for Santa:

 Here's the note Santa left in return:

 Dear Audra and Claire:

Thank you for the cookies. I have watched how you play nice together and how you share your toys. Keep being nice to everyone just like Jesus would. I hope you enjoy your gifts. Love, Santa

P.S. Rudolph (OK, Ben spelled it wrong- he spelled it Rudolf. He also asked me what day Christmas was on- as in, not what day of the week, but what the actual date was. For being such a genius, he sometimes really cracks me up) was getting hungry so he was very happy to get the carrot.

Then, here is the Christmas tree after Santa came to visit. I am very happy that he did not go too overboard this year. It should be a wonderful, happy, not too ridiculous of a Christmas tomorrow morning!

Just one more quick story before I go to bed:
At the Christmas party the other day, I asked the girls' friend what she wanted for Christmas. She is three and she gave me the most specific list of toys she wanted that I have ever heard. Down to colors and sizes and everything- it was impressive. If you ask what my girls want, they won't say really anything. Claire has no idea, and Audra just has one wish: a music box. That's it. Ben thinks it is because they never watch commercials (yea for a DVR!), but I like to hope that we are doing a good job of not pushing the commercialism. Don't worry, we know it will come in due time. My list as a child was at least 3 pages front and back long. But if we can hold it off for as long as possible, that would be really nice!