We had a fun, memorable Christmas Eve. Samuel asked to make a chocolate pie for dessert on Christmas, so he and I spent the morning baking.
I consider myself a pretty decent baker, but one thing I've never come close to mastering is pie crusts. Good thing it still tasted delicious even though it looked a little wonky.
We all spent the morning in our pajamas playing and ate spaghetti for lunch. After lunch we did our sibling gift exchange. A few years ago we started the tradition of taking the kids shopping at Dollar Tree to buy gifts for their siblings and exchanging them on Christmas Eve. They always look forward to shopping and exchanging gifts.
Everyone was happy with their gifts! I was impressed with the thoughtfulness in their purchases.
Katherine always wants to snuggle with Nathan's beloved stuffed penguin, so he got her her very own penguin :).
Katherine got daddy a PJ Masks puzzle and then insisted on putting it together for him.
Matt and I also buy the kids a new game that they open on Christmas Eve and then we all play together. This year we got them Disney Apples to Apples. We also bought Pandemic because we found a great Black Friday deal, but after we played it we realized they're still to young for it.
I mean is there a more fitting Christmas gift for 2020 :).
Apples to Apples was a hit though! We all had fun playing it together.
We finally all got dressed in the afternoon and headed to our church's Christmas Eve service. It's another special tradition in our family.
Elisabeth abandoned us to become a Miller for the service, ha!
The family Christmas Eve service has always been stressful for me keeping our Little Ones still and quiet. I was really reflective this year of how we are moving out of that stressful stage of Little Ones. I remember a Christmas service when Elisabeth crawled back and forth on the floor under the chairs and several years trying to quiet toddler babbles. The three bigger kids behaved wonderfully during the service, and this Cutie wasn't even that loud or wiggly. We're moving out of the baby/toddler stage and into a big kid season, and it's certainly bittersweet.
I definitely felt less frazzled hearing her sweet voice or containing her wiggles, knowing that these days are numbered and even though they were hard, they were beautiful too. So very beautiful.
After church we spent the evening with the Millers. I always feel like my kids are missing out on the fun cousin memories at big holidays. They have far less cousins than I do and 2/3 of them live out of state. But I looked over at all of sweet kids playing Apples to Apples and realized that although they're holiday memories might be different than mine, they will still be filled with happy moments playing with friends whom we all consider family.
We had appetizers/snacks for dinner.
While the kids played, the adults played Pandemic.
We all laughed when Santa and Rudolph came by for a visit.
We said goodbye to our friends around 9:00 that night and tried to get some excited kids to bed! There's nothing like the excitement and anticipation of Christmas Eve.
Our fun December activities resumed after we returned from Memphis. Samuel asked to make fudge one afternoon, and when he asks to do something with me, I always try to say yes. He talked to me all about the books he's been reading while he chopped pecans and I stirred the fudge on the stove.
December means more Christmas dresses!
I signed up to be Cookie Mom for Katherine's winter dance performance, and we needed treats for a little Christmas party I hosted, so we made Rice Krispie Christmas trees and chocolate chip m and m cookies. She was more than happy to help me!
Katherine's Winter Dance performance was adorable! She loves dance (probably even more than her sister did at age three). She's a little performer and did a great job on her ballet dance.
She loves the cookies as much as the dancing. She had to wait an extra week after her sister's cookie party, and it was a long wait for her. She asked everyday when it was her turn for a cookie party.
The Friday before Christmas, I hosted a little Christmas party for some of our homeschool friends. I hosted a big, super fun Halloween party with about 20 kiddos and had hoped to have a similar Christmas party, but when the COVID numbers started rising, we didn't feel comfortable having a huge group of people in our home. So, I just invited two families to the party- the two moms who helped me host the Halloween party. The boys missed a couple of their good friends who we couldn't invite, but everyone still had an awesome time and it was a more relaxing party for us moms, ha!
Aubrie brought a couple of crafts for the kids to do at the beginning of the party.
Then we ate treats, drank hot chocolate and turned on Elf for the kids to watch in their jammies.
The movie didn't last long at all. The kids all preferred playing with each other instead of watching a movie. I didn't blame them!
They also played a couple of rounds of Bingo before the party ended.
It was different than a school party- all of us moms have worked together of class parties before, but it was nice to not be rushed by a 30 minute party and have the freedom to do what we wanted. These friends sure help make homeschool fun!
We always make Santa pancakes for dinner one night in December. The kids were excited to decorate their own.
And we wore more Christmas dresses, of course. Elisabeth wore this rose dress when Katherine was a newborn- and had a tiny matching one. This sweet baby has grown up quickly!
While the big kids played Ticket to Ride with Matt and me, Katherine built some towers. Slow, dark, cold nights inside playing games has become one of my favorite parts of winter.
We invited some friends over to play and decorate graham cracker gingerbread houses with us. The kids helped me set everything up and then got to work designing their houses before our friends arrived.
I premade all the houses to cut down on some of the frustration and chaos that comes with gingerbread house day. I saw a tip to hot glue them instead of using frosting and I'm very tempted to try it next year!
Katherine was a big fan of the gingerbread houses. She kept asking when she could eat her house.
They all turned out really cute! The kids worked hard on them.
Then we spent the rest of the day playing with friends. It has been hard to get together with friends during the school year, so we always look forward to long breaks to catch up with our friends.
The kids spent some time decorating our driveway for Christmas.
Another Christmas tradition we do every year is baking and decorating cookies. It always tests my patience but ends up being a favorite activity for everyone.
The kids worked hard decorating the cookies. The girls definitely prefer this activity over the boys, and I noticed that Nathan is starting to grow out of it. He decorated a couple of cookies, and then he was done and back to playing with Legos.
All the fun traditions, parties, and activities make December one of my favorite months of the year!
We said goodbye to our friends around 9:00 that night and tried to get some excited kids to bed! There's nothing like the excitement and anticipation of Christmas Eve. 
