I woke up Christmas Eve with a bad cold. We got up early and went to the church for the final choir practice (before the performance, Christmas day). Afterwards I came home and slept. It was so great to get some sleep but I felt like I kind of waisted away the day. Ben helped me and we quickly made food and headed to the Stones home for dinner and fun. It was great to see everyone and to have a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner (ham, creamy potatoes, gloam, ect).
It is always wonderful to spend the holiday's with family; Mom, Dad and Grandma Baker were there, as well as Mat and Andi with there with their kids and Deanna and some of the kids came (Ricky and Brayden stayed home due to strep- yuck), AND Michael and Taylor came from CA for the week. We had a fun time playing games, talking and watching the crazy kids. Andrew, Tre and I monitored the progression of Santa across the world online- it was cool to see where he was and how fast he moved from one place to another.
We also got to open our Christmas Eve presents. Growing up we had Christmas Eve presents from the Stones Family; each cousin was matched up with another cousin (same for the adults) and we got them a present to open Christmas Eve. It was a fun way for us all to stay in contact and remember our cousins. This year we decided to try it in our family. I had Andi and Ben had Ben Dawson, we had a lot of fun thinking about them and trying to decide what to get them. Andrea had me and she got me a vinyle saying to stick on the wall (I have found 100 places to stick it but still haven't decided. I need her decorative advise!) and a beautiful flower pin. Taylor has Ben and she got him a movie night (popcorn, candy, mini root beer and a movie)- he loved it.
That night we went home to get our stuff and head to the Newson's for Christmas night/morning. While we were there we opened our Christmas presents from Mom and Dad (yes, it was one day early but we justified it by saying we wouldn't really be home the next day). We got some pillows (for me to use as pillow forms as I make new pillows for our house), a red tea kettle (Ben loves that it whistles) and a red microwave, we didn't have one and having one has been so convenient (Ben loved it because it was full of microwave popcorn).
That night I told Ben that it felt like we had already had Christmas because we got to spend so much time and make so many happy memories with family. It was such a fun Christmas Eve and a great way to start the Christmas weekend and bring in the Christmas spirit.
