Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Christmas Eve Traditions


Besides visiting Santa on Christmas Eve, we traditionally have a Christmas Eve party. This started waaaay before our kids were born. We found that we and some close family and friends really didn't have much to do on Christmas Eve, so I we naturally set out to fix that. (2012 Party, 2013 Party)

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Anyone and everyone is invited to Christmas Eve. The boys do exchange presents with Nonna and Pop and we usually exchange with some extended family and close friends, but that goes down earlier in the night. When the boys were really little, we were able to put them down and keep the party going. As they got older, they started to realize they were missing some fun. Last year, we ended the party the earliest ever at 10pm! This year, we were back to our normal Christmas Eve ways not wrapping things up until closer to 1am.

For the past 2 years, Uncle Fred has sent the boys cookies! We save them for our Christmas Eve treat! This year he went all out decorating cookies for all the kids, including Skylar! My boys will probably be upset next year when they realize they can't eat hers too!

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Another Christmas Eve tradition is Nonna and her bow picture. This dates back to Evan's very first Christmas and the great poop storm of 08. That story will have to wait for another day....but Nonna got her bow picture!
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Evan and Luke got Jenga for Christmas this year. We decided to break it out and have a friendly game. Well, this became the most intense longest game of Jenga I have ever witnessed. 
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I'll never tell who knocked the tower down, but I feel like there might be a rematch next Christmas Eve.

The rest of the night was filled with food, drink and much much merriment. You can't beat a night of friends and family! (For the 5 people who read my blog - the rest of this is just pictures that probably only my family cares about!)

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You know what being the AUNT mean?? I can buy all those impractical gifts I would never buy my own children, like monogrammed hats and big floweredy headbands!!
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We ended the night with another Christmas Eve tradition - The Sprinkling of Reindeer Food! Oats and Glitter make up this magical reindeer food. The oats give the reindeer energy to keep up their long flight and the glitter helps them see which houses to visit from the night sky. 

Luke had glitter on his face the rest of the night. Now that I mention it, I am recalling a very late late night conversation about Mariah Carey and Glitter....Jessica - you may have knocked down the tower, but you get bragging rights about MC! #whoknewshewaswhite
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