Christmas Eve and Big News!

Christmas Eve is actually my favorite part of Christmas. Don't get me wrong--I love seeing my kids run out to see what Santa brought and open each present totally excited. But, it always seems like as soon as you open presents, Christmas is over. So, I hold on to each moment Christmas Eve--being with family, having a delicious dinner, kids anticipating the arrival of Santa, singing Christmas carols, reading Grandma's book, and reading in Luke while the kids (and sometimes adults) get to act out the Nativity. It's not about the presents on Christmas Eve, but about being together and celebrating the birth of Jesus, the true meaning of Christmas.

This Christmas Eve we got together with Don's family (that is here in Utah) and had such a nice night. We started off the night with an amazing dinner at Don and Diane's.


The adult table


The kid table (They make dinner look a lot more fun! Oh, to be a kid again.)






Then we headed back to our house for a Christmas program and games. Elle is an amazing organizer and planner and told me a few weeks before Christmas that she had a program all planned for Christmas Eve. So, we let her be in charge and she did a fantastic job! She picked the songs out to sing and wrote down all the words for everyone and had the nativity costumes and props all set out and parts assigned.


The program she made all on her own



She played the piano while we all sang







And Jayne twirled and danced to the music and then kept posing in these funny positions. She is so cute and was making us all laugh and smile. How did we get so lucky?



Then she would clap and cheer at the end of each song



Tami read Diane's book she wrote, "I Believe in Santa Clause"



Then we read out of Luke and acted out the nativity. Elle assigned Mitch to be Joseph but Easton really wanted to be Joseph too so we had two "Josephs" this year. Uncle Glenn got to be a Wise Man. He loved his crown and frankincense. :)



Acting out the Nativity



We put the kids to bed in our room snuggled up in sleeping bags on our floor. (They love all sleeping in the same room together. Don and I love it too but also have to make sure they don't run out and see what Santa brought until we get to be with them.) They kept coming out saying they were too excited for Santa to come to fall asleep, but they finally did. Don and I stayed up late playing games with the adults and finally got to bed about 2am. Luckily, we remembered to set out the cookies and note from the kids to Santa. I think he loved them because there was nothing but crumbs the next morning!



And our big news... Before putting the kids to bed they got to open a little package to our family from Heavenly Father and inside was...


Baby #4's 1st picture! Yep, we are having another baby!



Elle immediately started jumping up and down and was so excited! Easton couldn't understand how the ultrasound was a picture of a baby and looked at me and said, "Seriously? There's a baby in your tummy? Seriously?" We told him yes and then he got really excited too and has been asking me when the baby is coming ever since. (He will hug me and say that he is hugging the baby too.) They both insist it is a boy. Easton wants a brother because Elle and Jayne do a lot of "girly" stuff and Elle says it has to be a boy because we have a pattern in our family--girl, boy, girl, boy. When we told Jayne, she just smiled and cheered. I don't think she understands what is going on but I'm pretty sure she will love the baby when it comes, maybe a little too much. :) We are so excited for this new addition to our family, and a little nervous too. It will be a whole new adventure to take our family of 5 to a family of 6 but there's nothing that brings us more happiness than our kids. We love our little (or big?) family!