Christmas Eve

This was the first year we didn't go to one of our parents house for Christmas.  We knew we had to fill up the time with fun Christmas activities that would remind us about the real meaning of Christmas and help us feel the love.  We went to the live Nativity at Tuchacan, which was awesome.  Marilyn told Baby Jeff (who is still in my belly) all about the donkey that Jesus Mommy rode and that is was cold outside.  She told him about the angels and their beautiful music and the camels that came by Jesus.  She told him how beautiful Baby Jesus is.  It was a sweet moment to witness, she got it!

Some other things we did, we made snow globes and went caroling with our buddies the Records.  My family goes caroling every year when we are in California so it was pretty cool to keep that tradition alive despite not being there.  We had my parents come from California and in true Nielsen fashion opened a bunch of Christmas presents early (Tom got AppleTV and I got a 14 cup Cuisenart, which is AMAZING, Marilyn got a horse riding Barbie and the horse actually walks!).   We did a bunch of art projects and made ALOT of "Holiday Treats".  A treat qualifies as a holiday treat when it has butter and sugar in it.  I have a sweet tooth...it's not my fault!! We tried to do about 3-4 things a week that kept us moving and feeling the Christmasness. 

One of my favorite things we did was have a giant Christmas Eve dinner with a bunch of friends who were also staying home for the holiday.  We had the Records, the Penroses and the Byingtons over for a turkey dinner.  It was super fun! I got to use all the leaves for our table and it was fun to prepare all day for a big meal at my house.  It was my first meal of this caliber...everyone brought something so it was not stressful just fun.  We played BINGO and did a little gift exchange, it was really really fun playing and laughing together on Christmas Eve. 

Here is everyone, I have no idea why I decided I needed to be front and center of the entire picture...oops!

Marilyn and her darling friends Haven and Diesl...they played all evening! So fun to have friends to play with...I loved watching it and listening to it!

When it was over and all our friends went home, we knew Santa would be coming soon so we hurried and got a few things ready for him and went to sleep as fast as we could!

We opened our Christmas Pajamas (I made them this year...they are a little goofy, but perfectly fabulous for the occasion)

Marilyn will NOT let anyone help her put on clothes anymore...so it took FOREVER, but she got them on! We hurried to sleep cause we knew it was a big day starting the moment we woke up!

Merry Christmas Eve!