Christmas Eve

Because I procrastinated and put wrapping gifts of until the last minute, I took a half day off of work on Friday so I could get everything wrapped. Of course, with two kids now, all of my best laid plans usually backfire. And Christmas was no exception.

Because I spent all evening wrapping and listening to the kids cry (as soon as one would stop, the other would start; this went back and forth like this all evening!!!), I had to put off the last few gifts until Christmas Eve morning. Two of those gifts were necklaces I had planned on making for two of my cousins. I had seen on Pinterest how to make necklaces out of washers and metal stamps. I thought it would be really cool to make necklaces for Justyn and Kenzie like that and add a few small embellishments. So at 8:30 am I'm down in the basement hammering away on these stamps trying to put the girls' name on the washers. 10 washers and 45 minutes of loud banging and all I have is trash. The stamp would either move and the letter would streak down the washer or I'd only get part of the letter to etch in or I'd have the stamp completely backwards or sideways. I finally just got so frustrated that I gave up altogether and went to plan "B". I went back to the store and found an easier solution and one that turned out just as cute anyway! But if anyone needs metal stamps for a project I have some you can borrow! ;)

That evening we went to the Christmas Eve service with Jason's parents and siblings and nieces. The service was a little different than in the past - there were only 2 traditional Christmas songs, a baptism to begin the service and some more modern songs sung by individuals in the congregation thrown into the mix. During one of the songs, Jason's dad picked Hayden up to put him on his lap and Hayden's pants fell down around his ankles. Leave it to Hayden to expose himself during church!

Tucker, on the other hand, fell asleep as church was starting and slept not only through church but through dinner as well! And I was glad that he did because it was delicious!

After dinner and dishes it was time to open presents - something the kids had been waiting for all night long! One of the gifts Hayden and Delaney each got was a copy of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" along with a stuffed animal from the book - the Grinch and his dog Max! You'd have thought they were the best gifts ever! Hayden and Delaney were throwing the animals up in the air and hugging on them and giggling like crazy!

Another fun gift was Erika's - Just Dance for Kinect! Everyone got into it and took a turn (except for me but I was doing everyone a favor by not having to see the disaster that is me dancing!) - even Hayden and Delaney (even though Hayden was totally by accident)!

But the dancing didn't last for long. It was about 10:30 and Hayden was starting to get whiny - a sure sign he was getting tired and needed to go to bed. So we headed back to McPherson and of course both boys slept the whole way. Hayden was so tired that he was half asleep when Jason walked him to his bedroom and ended up zig-zagging his way down the hall, walking into the wall a couple times. But even after all that he slept all night. In his own bed.