Above is the picture of our treats for Santa, carrots for the reindeer and milk of course! Just the crumbs were left by morning....
For Christmas Eve we went to see the new Chipmunk movie it was a little cheesy but cute. We got there and saw our friends the Kinghorns and sat in front of them for the movie. It was fun to see friends and chat afterwards.
One of Troys favorite things he did as a teenager was to go to the mall on Christmas Eve. So after the movie we headed north to battle the crowds for some window shopping. We arrived at 5:50pm not realizing the mall closed at 6pm. So we utilized the bathroom for the boys and browsed the discounted Christmas decorations. Then we piled back in the van. Did I mention it is like FREEZING HERE?! We've had like 3 snow storms in NM this year. It reminds me a bit of Idaho. We headed over to Toys R Us because I heard they were opened until 10pm. I was actually surprised that it wasn't packed. I mean it was interesting to see the parents who waited until the last minute to buy gifts who had carts full but for the most part there wasn't a ton of people there.
We actually found some clearance items we bought. Trains for $2 yes please! And a star wars light saber night light for $10 yes please! The boys thought it was fun helping out Santa and exploring the thousands of toys there. And we headed home.
In my home we always opened one present on Christmas Eve (usually PJ's) and so that is what we did.
So I feel a bit bad but Chandler didn't care. He opened PJ's he already had and loves them. But when you have hand me downs from the previous child why spend more money? He didn't care and I thought it was kind of funny.
Hinckley opened Star Wars PJ's. He was so excited!
They have darth vadar on them
They fit like a glove. I don't know if they will fit all winter but thats okay we will just buy new ones. HE LOVES THEM!
After our PJ's were opened we told the story of Jesus Christs birth. Well, actually Hinckley told us the story. I love that he is familiar with Bible stories. It warms my heart.
Then of course we had to put out Santa's key so he could get into the house!
I love this tradition of hanging the key! Thanks Kathy!
We made sure the stockings were hung and Hinckley wrote the sweetest note to Santa. I forgot to take a picture of it. He asked him to keep the note and picture forever. Don't worry Santa WILL keep it forever. I love this magical age of believing in Santa and understanding the reason we celebrate Christmas. I just love it!
We tucked the boys into bed before Santa came.... We almost didn't make it into our beds before we heard a big HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS and jingle bells outside our bedroom windows. We also heard BIG steps to the house and what sounded like reindeer and a sleigh landing on the roof. We could also hear Santa saying, Slow down Rudolph, a little to the left, a little to the right... It was truly magical.
We ran into Hinckleys room to see if he heard Santa and asked if we should go look outside to see if he was still here. He exclaimed, "NO! He knows when we are sleeping or awake so we better go back to sleep." Oh what a sweet little boy we have!
*BEST CHRISTMAS EVE EVER!*
Troy and I are in charge of the music for our youth dances that are usually held once a month. Because our stake is so spread out (from the north to south its over 3 hours) they decided to have the new years eve dance a night before. They actually had a youth killed in a car accident after a dance like 5 or 6 years ago in our stake so they are very cautious about what time they let out the dance and stuff.
Typical picture of Troy DJing
My brother and his 6 kids were in town for it and my parents came by the dance for while so Grandpa got to dance with one of his grand-daughters.
Hinckley and his cousin played NONE STOP. They are a year apart but they get along so well. They played and played and played and played and played. Hinckley was heartbroken when his cousin left.... When we got home from the dance I got a snap shot of them holding hands as they were asleep.
