something different

Christmas Eve day the kids let Shawn and I sleep in until 8am.  It was lovely.  Liv decided that it would be a special day so she wanted to dress up "fancy".  She put on a nice skirt and then wanted to choose me an outfit.  I convinced her that the nice pencil skirt she chose for me wouldn't be that easy to wear around the house.  So she chose another "fancy" outfit for me to wear and we set off on our day.  We ran errands and hung around the house all morning.  We baked and wrapped and got ready for Christmas Day.  In the afternoon we dropped off our sub for santa gifts and then headed to a friends house for appetizers, dinner and a movie.  We left early because  we wanted to do our own little Christmas Eve celebration.

Christmas morning is usually very exciting at our house.  They kids are happy and buzzing with excitement!  The first thing we open are all the gifts from Santa.  Then we move on to the family gifts.  Each year the kids draw names for gifts.  They spend hours deciding on what to get their sibling.  Shawn and I also spend hours trying to decide the perfect gift for our kids.  These gifts come with lots of thought and love and I wanted them to to get all the attention they deserve.  Don't get me wrong, the kids love the presents from family and are grateful, but part of the excitement has worn off after opening all the other Santa gifts on Christmas morning.

So, this year I did something different.  Christmas Eve the kids always beg to open presents.  This year I let them.  All the presents under our tree are from loved ones.  Sibling gifts, gifts to the kids from Shawn and I, and gifts form our wonderful grandparents and relatives.  These gifts are special and so to give them the perfect attention they deserve, we let the kids open most of the gifts under the tree the night before Christmas.

The kids loves every second and the excitement of these gifts got all the attention I hoped for....and these cute faces!

The boys were so excited that this embrace of thanks turned into a choke.

Next, up Christmas morning!!