Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day brought us a blanket of fresh snow. It came down pretty good for a couple hours. Not everyone loves snow...but I think most people can appreciate it on Christmas. I couldn't help singing "White Christmas" and "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" and a lesser known song -- "A Marshmallow World." 

Of course we broke out the camera trying to capture the beauty of it all.

I just can't seem to do it. But here were some of our attempts.

We spent a leisurely day -- puzzles, games, and books

 

 

Mason and Renae ventured outside when the snow stopped to do some sledding on our backyard hill. It isn't the biggest hill or the steepest hill, but it is close by and amazingly kept them entertained for a good hour or more.

I love this picture!!!

Mason & Renae (sadly) rarely do things together or find much common ground.

This warmed my heart to see them having such fun together.

Christmas Eve we had our Lawrence cousins over (Eric's sister Debbie & her family). We had a great time eating, singing, and acting out the nativity. I wish I had more pictures...but this will have to do. Funny thing...as we were preparing to act out the story from Luke 2 -- all the girls wanted to be Mary but none of the boys wanted to be Joseph. Nobody wanted to be a shepherd or wiseman either. Mason just wanted to be the donkey that carries Mary and Colby & Kaiden wanted to be inn keepers. Uhhhhhh, not much of a nativity with just Mary and an inn keeper. So we had kids do 2 parts. I think we had 3 angels too. Oh well, we had fun and I think they understood the story...maybe.

 

 

 Then when our cousins went home, my kids went out in the snow and threw out reindeer food (special oats and glittery stuff) to attract and feed Santa's reindeer. They also put out cookies and milk for Santa and then hurried off to bed. It was a great Christmas Eve.