Christmas Eve Eve 2013

Christmas Eve eve (a.k.a. Dec. 23rd) we had a family party at our house with the two of Eric's siblings that live in Rexburg and their families. There were 11 kids (seven of them under age 7) so it was a bit wild and loud, but that is all part of the fun, right?

We started with the Cameron Family's traditional Mexican Fiesta -- we had Nachos and Chimichangas. Yummy! After everyone was happy and fed, we started our little program. The kids acted out the Nativity scene while Eric read the story from the bible. It was...a riot. Let's see if you recognize these scenes from the well loved story.

This is Mary riding in on her donkey...

meanwhile Joseph is trying to keep Baby Jesus in the manager...by force if necessary.

 This is the part when the wise man dog piled the donkey while a shepherd looks on in wonder.

We then moved on to the musical portion of our evening. Renae entertained us with a selection of Christmas songs that she had memorized. Mason even pulled out his trumpet and serenaded us with a few songs. We had a fun sing-along with a few Cameron Family Traditional Christmas songs such as "The Nativity Song" and "Picture a Christmas" -- with accompanying pictures to hold up. The only thing that was missing was Aunt Donetta's "Reindeer Hunt." We need to get the words to that!

We finished off the evening with a nice spread of Christmas goodies. Thanks everyone for the great treats!! It is so nice to have family in town for nights like this.

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After all the cousins and aunts and uncles went home, my kids brought up their sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets to have their annual "Sleep in Front of the Christmas Tree" night. They also got to open their first present...the Pajama Pants that I had spent hours and hours making for them. This was my biggest sewing project ever (I'd only ever done a pillowcase and a table runner before -- and both of those were with a lot of help from my SIL Amy). Well my SIL Beth encouraged me to take on this momentous project. I'll admit that I was overwhelmed at times, but it was actually a lot of fun and they turned out great! I was very proud of myself. Who would have guessed that I had a "seamstress" inside of me???

The kids sporting their Christmas Jammies!!

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We had a lovely batch of "Freezing Fog" earlier that day and I took some pictures of what it looks like. Basically it puts tiny ice crystals on any and all surfaces. Isn't that just awesome looking?