Christmas Eve

I probably should have broken this blog into separate posts, but I didn't. Enjoy!

There wasn't a shortage of reindeer food at our house! Plenty of oatmeal and glitter for all of Santa's reindeer and any other hungry animal! Addison and Alyssa made the ones with the reindeer head at Parent's Night Out a couple of weeks ago. The others came from Breakfast with Santa. 

This year we left Santa a red velvet chocolate chip cookie, 2 Double Stuff Golden Oreo cookies, Hello Kitty fruit snacks, and milk (in Uncle Si's tea glass)!

I've been told about 100 times (per Facebook 'likes') that this is the best picture collage ever! It all started with us going to the website where we usually watch Santa feed his reindeer. On Christmas Eve, the live feed showed Santa loading his sleigh with toys and then 'flying' away. Addison and Alyssa are always excited to watch Santa feed the reindeer and know what to expect. Well, when Alyssa saw Santa grab his big red bag of toys along with a few stuffed animals under his arm, she was amazed at the sight! Hell, I was amazed at the sight of HER while she watched Santa. Addison was a little more reserved, but still excited to watch!

Next, we said goodbye to our elf on the shelf, Eric. This is always a special time since the girls get to hug and kiss him bye. For those that don't know, Elf on the Shelf hangs around at odd places in your house during the holidays. Usually out of reach of tiny little hands. If you touch the elf he loses his 'magic'. Yeah, wonder how long I can keep them believing this nonsense! Anyway, he watches the kids during the day and then at night reports back to Santa. The next morning he always lands in a new spot after his trip to the North Pole. Or, if you are slacker parents like us, sometimes the elf is in the same damn spot because we forgot to move him! Coming up with lies excuses for your 3 & 5 year old shouldn't be so hard!

Finally, it was time for a bedtime story, 'My Special Christmas Adventure'. We all love reading these personalized books! Pappy and Grams have gotten the girls several of these personalized books over the years and it's such a great idea! This one is all about Alyssa going with Santa around the world and helping him deliver presents. Addison, Maggie, and Travis are also in the book. After the story, it didn't take long for my sweet girls to fall fast asleep! I'm certain I saw visions of sugar plums dancing above their heads when I peeked in on them before Santa 'arrived'.