Twas The Night Before Christmas. . .

I know I should be posting all things 'New Year', but I couldn't leave out our Christmas adventures :)  Christmas Eve, we headed to my grandmothers home for our traditional soup dinner. . . a few years ago we decided on this menu instead of the usual turkey/ham.  It has been a big hit!  Chili, broccoli/cheese, and sausage/potato were the soups of choice this year with veggies/dip, Mama Jo's DELICIOUS country ham and biscuits,  and cheese/crackers.  Desserts consisted of homemade German chocolate cake and coconut cake.

After dinner,  it was time to pass out the gifts.  This year was precious as Cole took the role of delivering the presents.  I remember when that was MY role and how I used to help Kyle and my younger cousins read the names on each package.  It's amazing how quickly life evolves. . .

After we all opened our gifts, Mama Jo brought out Cole's special surprise - a replica of an antique fire engine to ride.  He was so excited!  It has a bell, hose, and pedals underneath to race to a fire and save the day :)  We can't wait for the weather to warm up a little so we can get outside and play without running into furniture and doorways :)

I do think the fire engine was Cole's favorite, but a close second was this pajama shirt my mom received.  Cole loved its 'coziness' and wore it for the remainder of the evening.  

The past few years, we've spent the night at my parent's home on Christmas Eve, but this year, we wanted to spend it at our home.  Now that Cole is getting older, we want the intimate memories of waking up on Christmas morning in our house with new traditions.  So. . . to finish out the night, we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, bid Buddy the Elf goodbye until next year, and read "What God Wants For Christmas" (highly recommend!).  Next year, we are going to begin the tradition of baking a Happy Birthday Jesus cake on Christmas Eve and leaving it for Santa so that he will know the true meaning of Christmas :) 

We can't believe how the night flew by. . . it seems as if we gear up for this 'event' all month and then in a blink, it's over.  We pray you had a blessed Eve as well!