Christmas Eve

We had our traditional Christmas Eve at grandma Ham's this year.  We met a little earlier and did the activities first and dinner last.  This year felt so much more relaxed and enjoyable, I think starting earlier helped and it really helped to only go to one house on Christmas Eve.

We started out watching the nativity. 

After that we acted out the nativity.  Caitlyn and Wyatt were Mary and Joseph.

Hallee wanted to be the angel.

I loved seeing Damon crawl in with Dante.  I love this picture.

Grandpa read the story from the bible while these cute kids acted it out.

Next was grab box. 

The kids look forward to their new book each year.

We didn't feel rushed so we let the kids all read for a minute.  I love that they couldn't wait to open their books and start reading!

Jonah finished his new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book while we were at grandma's.  When Jonah is reading a book he likes, he can't put it down.

I doesn't seem that long ago that Caitlyn was wearing that cute, little angel dress.  The kids are growing up so fast!

My kids all love grandpa!

The adults look forward to their gift cards every year. We had so much fun talking and laughing together.  I love these people. 

After that we went upstairs for Christmas Bingo.

Jonah loved helping Damon with Bingo.  We all loved watching Damon.  He was so excited about everything.  He was so fun to watch.

Christmas Bingo is when I miss Jen the most.  We have a few things that we laugh at every year like "I nuts" and "O Christmas Tree" and I always think of Jen making jokes about them.  Jen always seemed to make her best jokes around the dining room table. I miss that.

Hallee and Tessa were thrilled with their Bingo prizes.  It was even more exciting that they got the same ones!

Caitlyn and Amarie wanted to buy grandma and grandpa presents this year so they went in together and went shopping while they were together last week.  Grandma and grandpa loved them.  They are such sweet girls!

We opened our family presents from Matt and Lori.  They were so generous! We miss them every year at Christmas! 

After that the kids played while we got dinner ready.  After dinner we sat around talking for a long time while the kids were off playing.  It was great to visit and laugh with each other. 

Before we left we gave grandma and grandpa their presents and they gave us our presents.  The kids all loved their presents.  They always get spoiled and they love it!  It was a great Christmas Eve!