Christmas Eve 2010

We started off our Christmas Eve traditions by frosting sugar cookies for Santa, the boys look forward to this every year. We got everything ready, then started frosting away.


Even Josh got in on the action this year. Usually he just watches the rest of us, but he was having fun right along with the boys. Just look at that smile on his face...he was really enjoying frosting cookies.


And of course, after the work is done, it's time to enjoy...



Jantzen and Jaron have so much fun frosting and decorating cookies. The whole time they talked about how much Santa was going to love the cookies they made for him.


I'm not sure what's going on with Jantzen's lip here, but he does this all the time and I think it's funny (OK, I'll admit, I do it too...that's where he got it from).



Jaron is a little bit of a perfectionist and it shows as he's frosting cookies. He takes his time and is really good at it.



Jaedyn joined us for the annual festivities, but didn't frost any cookies (maybe next year). Instead, she just enjoyed eating a special cookie that her daddy made for her, complete with a "J" on it.

At first she didn't know what to do with it, so she decided to just taste a little bit of the frosting...


Then, when she figured out that she liked it, she tried a little more...


And eventually she decided to just eat the whole thing, it definitely tastes better that way...


The end result was a happy little girl, a happy tummy, and a messy face. I think Jaedyn enjoyed herself too, even though she didn't frost any cookies with everyone else...


Here is the end result of all the hard work the boys did, and yes, they were very yummy. The boys picked out four special cookies that they frosted especially for Santa and put them on "his" plate...


After we were all done frosting cookies, we cleaned up and then just hung out until dinner was ready. Jaedyn and I played around with the camera, she was being shy most of the time, but I did get a couple good shots of us together...



We then enjoyed our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade rolls, corn, and Jantzen's favorite cheese ball. It's nothing super fancy, except for the china, but we all like it and it satisfies our tummies every time.

After dinner we let the kids open their "special" Christmas Eve present. Just look at the excitement on their faces...


I don't think Jaedyn quite knows what to think about this present thing yet, but she will.


And what was the "special" presents this year? That's right, it's pj's! Jaron got "Perry the Platypus" pj's, Jantzen got "Mario" pj's, and Jaedyn got "Tinkerbell" pj's. They were all happy with what they got and they all looked so cute.


After the kids changed into their pj's, we watched a Christmas movie ("Elf", a favorite of ours), read our annual Christmas story ("I believe in Santa Claus"), set out the cookies and Diet Coke for Santa, then put the kids to bed.


Here's a close up copy (I had to scan because Jaron wrote it in pencil) of the letter Jaron wrote to Santa. I love how he made a flower on Jaedyn's "J" and a swirly on the end of her "N"...so cute!


Then it was time to prepare for Santa's visit to our house. It was a long night, but I always enjoy every minute of it. I can't wait to see what Santa brought this year!