Christmas Eve

We did all of our celebrating of Isaac during the day so that the evening could be all the traditions my family used to do when I was growing up but that I haven't been able to do because we've traveled every Christmas.  We invited my grandparents along and Isla was all over her walker.

One of our big traditions always was to have fondue on Christmas Eve.  It's a relatively easy meal but it takes a long time to eat all the courses and allows for a lot of hanging out time with chopping and then eating.  There were so many of us that the kids got their own table.

And here's the whole group.

This little muffin is the cutest and absolutely best behaved child on the planet.  He doesn't even cry- still at 8 months.  He grunts like a seal and growls like a dog if he's unhappy but not ever a cry.

Grandma and Isla have an interesting relationship.  They both like to tease but don't like to be on the receiving end.  So one is always laughing while the other is mad and it seems to keep switching back and forth as to which is which.  Pretty entertaining.

We let the kids stay up later and how some hours to kill.

Grandpa Pat of course came through by pushing the walker around with these two.

And Grandma Tina did a good job separating the two teasers.

The boys entertained themselves on the computer.

And then finally it was new pajama time.

Here we are- in front of an actual Christmas tree on Christmas Eve in our Christmas jammies.  So happy!

And then because we were being wild and still had a bit to wait, they got to go read in their rooms.

And finally it was 9pm!  Some of our neighbors each year give out lanterns as a neighbor gift and they ask everyone to light them on Christmas Eve.  We've always been gone but have heard what a beautiful sight it is and so we were excited to participate.

Except that a storm was blowing in and there were 50+mph winds.

We got a few to fly.

But then they'd plummet and roll across the grass and sidewalk and eventually the road.  They were booking it too so we couldn't even catch up to them which was kind of a problem if they ran into someone's flammable house.

There were many attempts and a few almost made it but really we only saw 2 or 3 others floating up from the neighborhood so everyone was having the same problem we did.  Some other year I guess.

After that (since we had to stay up for you know) we all played board games.

And finally it was time to have real Christmas with real stockings hung by the real chimney with care.

Can't wait for a magical Christmas morning with the big sized (not priced though) gifts I wanted to give.