{our life} Plain & Simple

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas Eve is such a very fun day in our home! The past few years, Grammy has come over to bake cookies for Santa with the girls (gingerbread and icing cut out cookies), and that is a tradition that I hope lasts until my girls are grown. Who knows? Maybe even longer! That evening, we head over to our friend and neighbors home for a Christmas Eve celebration. There is yummy food and lots of laughter. My favorite part of the evening is when all of the children (their are usually around thirty!) gather around the tree downstairs and Grumps leads them in a few Christmas carols before they are allowed to tear into their gifts. There is such excitement in the air and their eyes are all sparkling! To me, it is what Christmas should be in the eyes of a child. Pure joy, anticipation, and excitement. I love it! After a few hours we head home so that my children can open their Christmas Jammies. I have bought Christmas Jammies since Kate joined our family, and I don't ever plan on stopping! This year I was so excited to find coordinating jammies for all three of my children, despite their age gaps and differing genders! Our theme this year was turquoise and red penguin pajamas. Thank you, Target, for making my shopping so easy! Shortly after the "children in coordinating jammies in front of the tree" photo, I read aloud The Night Before Christmas, and then Kate and Jack crashed (as well as Boss). Emma, the big girls, and I watched Miracle on 34th Street before heading to bed, so that Santa could make his deliveries. Emma was so excited/nervous that she said she felt like she was going to throw up! Ha! She is so my daughter. Poor girl. Rashing is most definitely in her future. It was a magical, magical night. I love Christmas Eve!

Christmas Adam

For the past several years, our family has started a little tradition that I now like to call Christmas Adam. I have named this evening celebration, Christmas Adam, because we celebrate it on the night before Christmas Eve. Get it? Christmas Adam, because it comes before Christmas Eve? (Bwahaha. I am so clever. Moving on.) Anyway, on Christmas Adam, we (whoever from the family that is in town or is available) go over to Grammy and Da's house for a fettuccine dinner. Yum. We have also made it our tradition for the girls to write their letters to Santa on this night (we leave their letters for Sam the Elf to carry back to the Big Guy on his nightly trip to the North Pole, as this saves on postage, and I am cheap), and we always play a few exciting rounds of How the Grinch Stole Christmas Bingo. This year, Kate was our big winner, and she was super proud. As a special bonus on Christmas Adam 2010, this year Da wrote a witty and clever poem to read aloud to the children. His writings always make them smile. It was a great evening. I hope the tradition of celebrating Christmas Adam lasts in our family for years to come.