Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is maybe even more exciting than Christmas day for me.  I am such an obsessive over-preparer that I feel like I can just relax and enjoy the magic of the day.  We started by going to the Center Twin to watch "Sing."  It was so cute and we all loved the luxury of going to the movies!

Teagan loves to do these "tough" looking pictures, I have to be sneaky to get one of him smiling.  haha  That Santa hat was worn everyday all day this whole month, I think he maybe even started wearing it before thanksgiving.  He is a trend setter apparently, because by the time they got out for school there were a ton of kids wearing them to school every day.  I think Zac was the exact same way.

 After our movie, we met up with Grandma Packer and went out to eat at Smitty's.  I think that it might be our new favorite place to eat.  The food was excellent, the service, was excellent, it was nice and quiet and relaxed and they serve Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  It was seriously so fun.

 We all had fun coloring and visiting.  Adeline was getting anxious so our waiter took her for a walk around the restaurant.  He was so patient and upbeat.  He told us that he had 3 children at home waiting for him to arrive.

 Zac left a very generous tip and then as we were walking out we decided that it might be fun to leave a little extra cash on the table as well (in case he has to share the credit card tips).  Teagan ran a 20 dollar bill in and snuck it onto the table and we all ran out to the car.  It was blizzarding outside and we happened to be parked right outside the window where we had been sitting so we sat in the van (the waiter couldn't see us because of the snow) and got to watch him just after he found it.  He had the biggest smile and you could tell he was super excited.  The kids were loving it and so were we.  I believe sitting in the van and watching him might be my favorite memory of this year.

We headed home for our Christmas Eve fun.  We talked about the "Light the World" challenge and kind of reflected on some of the things we were able to do this season to Light the World.  Then we read the Christmas Story and attempted to act it out.

They all got fun new pajamas and then they got to open up a fun surprise Christmas Eve present.  It was lincoln logs that Zac and I had had a friend make for us and then we spent hours sanding, painting, and staining them.  They were a huge hit for everyone (especially me and Teagan).

 We loved having Grandma Packer with us for Christmas this year!  She took a billion pictures and just adds to the fun, love you grandma!

Then they all got to have a sleepover together upstairs.  It was so fun, except that they literally spent 2 hours messing around in there before we got them to finally go to sleep (past 10).  They were just so excited for Santa to come.  They spent all evening watching the Santa Tracker on Zac's phone.