Christmas Eve

The celebrating continued on Christmas Eve!  We always like the kids to open their presents from each other on Christmas Eve, so they don't get lost in the shuffle on Christmas day.  This year we decided to let them open them in the afternoon so we wouldn't be so rushed that night.  They happily obliged.  Charlotte was VERY excited about her Dora doll from Carson and her Cinderella Barbie from Aubrey (her two current favorites)!  Carson loved his Angry Birds Star Wars set from Aubrey and the Spiderman toys from Charlotte.  And Aubrey was ECSTATIC about the Niall doll from Carson and the Legos from Charlotte.  It's always so cute to see them get so excited about picking out the gifts, opening the gifts, and seeing each other open their gifts!

Then while Charlotte was napping, Aubrey and I went to the Christmas Eve service with the Jensens.  It was very nice, and yes, that is Niall sitting on Aubrey's lap.

Then we all headed over to Grandma's.  We feasted on my mom's yummy homemade soup and bread bowls.....yum.  Aubrey and I put "caroling" on our 12 Day's calendar, and I knew the only chance we'd have of pulling it off was with Aunt Mary.  So with a little convincing, we talked everyone into caroling at a couple houses in my mom's neighborhood.  It actually was fun.....Randy busted out his guitar and we did a pretty mean Silent Night.  

After we got home that night, we had our last day to open on our Advent calendars.  Brian found some cool Lego calendars for Aubrey and Carson this year (a big hit), so Charlotte got to open the big calendar and pass out the little candies to everyone.  Then we set out our cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.  I told the kids this year about a tradition that my brothers, sister, and I used to do when we were kids.  We all used to sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve (all four of us, my oldest brother wanted nothing to do with us).....one year we even slept in the bathroom, no joke, I can't believe my mom let us do that?!  Anyway, so of course they wanted to try it.  So we let Aubrey and Carson sleep on the floor in Charlie's room.  They were super excited, and I think got a little sleep.  But they were definitely up plenty early the next morning....