Countdown to Christmas: Day 18 - Christmas Eve

This year we spent the night of Christmas Adam at my parents' house, so we got to spend the whole early part of the day celebrating Christmas with them.

The kids opened their gifts from Grandma and Pa early in the day, and had a chance to play with their toys without having to hurry to the next stop.  It was really nice to be able to relax and enjoy the day with them.

Later in the day we headed over to Uncle Jim and Aunt Ruthann's house to spend some time with my mom's side of the family.  It has always been our tradition to spend Christmas Eve together with their family, and this year was no different.




all of the kids, minus Jack and Lily who decided not to participate : )



our little family, with Jack still not wanting to participate



my brother Dan and sister-in-law Annmarie



My Uncle Jim, Aunt Ruthann, and cousins Jim, John and Kristen

We knew that it was time to head for home when we couldn't shake Jack out of his funk. 

We had a long ride ahead of us as we had decided to return home on Christmas Eve night so that we could sleep in our own beds and wake up Christmas morning in our own house.   Since we've lived away from "home" for the last 5 Christmases, we always struggle with how to make the holidays as easy as possible.  Some years we have stayed at my parents' house on Christmas Eve, but we made a conscious decision to try to make it to our own house every other year, just so we can build those Christmas memories and traditions of our own.

It was a long and treacherous drive, with lots of snow and slippery conditions, but Mark got us here in time to put out the milk and cookies and tuck the three little kids into bed, safe and sound. 

Mommy forgot to buy carrots for the reindeer this year, but we think that reindeer might actually like apple slices as well.  So apple slices for each of the 9 reindeer, cookies for Santa, chocolate milk, and some letters/presents that the kids have made for Santa this year.