Christmas Eve 2014

Before we get to Christmas Eve I wanted to tell what happened the night before. We had lots of extra medical bills due to Kodee's new set of stitches in October and so I knew our budget for Christmas presents was going to be pretty low. I was okay with it because I didn't want to overdo it and get too many presents. After I got everything I noticed the kids only had one toy. I tried not to think about it too much. Well, right before Christmas the kids were still awake, (they were so so excited this year, they didn't sleep much) and we were playing when we heard a knock on the door. We ran to the door and all we saw was a card and chocolates on the doormat. We came inside and opened the card. 4 gift cards and cash poured out. Our jaws dropped! Someone was so generous and got us exactly what we could use! We put the kids to bed and asked if Garrett would come over so we could go get those final presents. We got the last two scooters that we wanted for the boys. And some groceries. I remember standing in line waiting to checkout feeling so grateful that Heavenly Father was watching out for us. Someone had listened to the Spirit and gave to us so freely. It was a wonderful night.
   Christmas Eve was full of excitement, joy, crazy kids, cleaning and straightening the house. We were getting ready for Hollie and Garrett and Sharifa and Steven coming over for our Christmas Eve party.

 Our goody plates we gave away. Fudge in the bag with caramel popcorn and sugar cookies

 Our tree with some presents underneath

 Lottie in festive pjs

 table ready for guests and dinner

 our guests and the kids table

 Pizza from Papa Murphy's 

(I really wanted to do homemade, but after cleaning all day I knew it wasn't going to happen)

 homemade cheeseball and spinach dip and veggies and ranch

 Sharifa made and brought these cheescake bites. Oh my! Yummy! They were delicious!!

I thought the party was really fun! We ate, played Kings and Queens (for Jaxon) and just laughed and talked. Our guests headed out about 7:30 so we all could get our kids to bed early for Santa to come.

 We pulled out our mattress so we could all sleep together. The kids loved it!!

 Jump away

 Ok kids, pose!

Family pose after we opened our new Christmas Eve PJs. I finally got my silky ones. Thanks Babe! Gemma loved her Frozen nightgown. Except the sleeves. We had to roll them up. The boys loved theirs too. Lottie's were actually too big so they didn't last long. 

I think we finally got the older three to bed around 9 which is great for Christmas Eve

Lottie slept in her crib

 Jaxon fell off right after I took this.

 Dreaming of sugarplums

We made sure everything was set for Santa, cookies, and wrapping paper for the doorway and we tried to fall sleep since we knew the kids would wake up early. 

I was very excited!