Christmas Eve 2011

Well, it's February 23rd, so that means time to post about Christmas Eve!
Didn't you know it's best to wait?
No? Well it is.

For reasons more practical than moral we decided to open presents on Christmas Eve... all except for stockings which lay... if you can believe it... unopened till New Years! Woops!

After opening gifts the morning was naturally filled with much playing! The boys were so cute and played so sweetly together.

Christmas Eve in general was pretty much the best day of 2011. It was like all the planets mysteriously aligned and all was right in our little townhouse world. Everyone was happy. Everyone felt good. Everyone was well behaved. Everyone wanted to be truly involved with the family all day. There were no outside distractions. There was peace, there was joy, there was love. We were feeling the Spirit of Christmas!

It was the kind of day that makes all the hard ones (yes, we have plenty of those too!) worth it!

By far the most played with toy during the day was the new car track. Jack and Aly played for hours with that thing!

But the other toys all got their turn too. Do you like Jack's geometric guy? I liked his addition of hair which the instruction card lacked. Also, we loved watching him make neat patterns!

If these Christmas Eve Morning pictures won't make you fall in love with my Truman then I am frankly out of ideas!

After plenty of playing we finally got to breakfast. Christmas isn't complete without a completely novel breakfast, don't you think?
In this house that means... cold cereal! And SUGARY cold cereal to boot! We had Marshmallow Mateys and Golden Grahams.
Yes, I could have done something fancy, but one goal of the year was to keep things simple!
The boys (Corey included) loved it, I assure you.

Aly was so adorable playing with his wooden groceries. For a long time he has raided our cupboards and fridge to fill his shopping cart, but now he has his own food! In these pictures he was doing a lot of running back and forth from the kitchen where he was cooking fish... to the living room where he was feeding Jack's new stuffed shark.

Baby liked his new things too...

Another project of the morning was for Alaster and I to finish the centerpiece for our food table. The Friend had a great cut out Nativity that was a fun little craft, and perfect decor! Jack also made a lovely snowflake to add which we taped to the wall.

In keeping with my 'simplicity,' goal the only actual food that I had to make on Christmas Eve for us was guacamole to dip our veggies in. Everything else... like the veggie tray, the cheeseball, the wheat rolls etc. I made the day before. And many things I bought. (Corey needs his White Chocolate Oreo's on Christmas!) Gram and Grampa brought over delicious Harry and David Pears and Cranberry Muffins to add to our spread! Thank you!

I think I will do this type of snacky-leave-it-out-and-eat-as-you-please type of buffet every year. We of course didn't eat everything and enjoyed the leftovers for the next few days. Plus it was so easy! The boys were introduced to REAL nuts with a nutcracker (so cool!) and that provided entertainment and nourishment for basically the next month.

('Two cheeseballs?' you wonder? Well, it was actually only one recipe split in two. One with onion, one without)

After we broke out the snack food we really took it easy. The boys watched "Father Christmas," and while they went off to play upstairs and Corey took a nap, Truman and I snuggled to watch "It's a Wonderful Life." Occasionally the boys would join us for a snuggle then they'd be off again for more adventures.

Last year we started the tradition of getting a new family game on Christmas Eve. This year we enjoyed playing our new game Toy Story 3 Yahtzee!

Towards dinner time we broke out Junie B and I read to the boys. I will forever thank Whitney for being the original Junie B. lover, and introducing us to her.

Dinner was also a simple affair... breakfast :) Eggs, pancakes, veggie sausages and juice. We even ate on paper plates! That's how much wanted to relax on Christmas!

Last but not least... after scripture study and prayers it was time to break out the new Christmas Eve PJ's courtesy of Gram and Grampa Burton:

Jack was apparently having such a good day that he was incapable of taking normal pictures. We tried to be upset with him for not obeying our injunctions to "just smile already!"
But the pictures were so hilarious that we just had to laugh.
They are SO Jack. I have included my favorites for his collage:
(The nice one we took as we finally caught him off guard between takes)

Aly was pretty cooperative. And adorable:

(My favorite is the bottom left)

And then there was that baby boy. Oh! I could just eat that baby up!
His hat kept falling over his eyes, and he was in general pretty aloof during the shoot which somehow made him even more irresistible:

Then Jack tried to help him be happy.

I wish so much that this picture wasn't blurry. Seeing Truman peer out under that huge hat to listen and look at Jack was one of the cutest brother moments ever!

I'm glad that baby is patient with us.

After the boys were in bed Corey and I snuggled and had a lovely evening of togetherness ourselves. We couldn't stop saying what a wonderful day it had been.
We love being a family and we know we have so very much to be thankful for!