Christmas Eve

We woke up to a nice surprise of snow. It was not in the forcast and since we had been getting rain for the past 36 hours, it wasn't expected.  When I opened the back door to let Hawkeye out, I was shocked and said 'we have a situation guys!'  LOL

The kids enjoyed watching it snow.  It was coming down pretty good too.

Because our elf left his goodbye note and hot chocolate, Sterling dove right in and enjoyed her "snowman poop" from the day prior with it.

After I was finished getting our pot roast in the crockpot, Sterling needed a cuddle.

After lunch we headed outside to shovel and play. Nick and I started out shoveling, but I ended up helping the kids build a tunnel and sledding hill.  Much more fun than shoveling. Nick finished the job though.  We stayed out for close to two hours. So much fun!

Sterling LOVED sledding and didn't want to stop.  It was a fight to get her back in!

We also stuck to our tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve before heading to bed.  They both choose their gifts, and Xander choose this one from Grandma Naomi

And Sterling got lucky and choose the Peppa Pig house from Auntie Renee.  She's been begging for this house since our time in Bismarck back in May.

Xander also wrote a note for Santa.  It says "Thank you Santa for bringing us presents (heart) Xander"

Sterling want to say "Merry Christmas Santa, I love you"  So I wrote it out and asked her to trace it.  She started but didn't finish all of it.

Around 5 we headed out in the minivan express with our golden tickets to look for the North Pole.  And all the fun lights and crazy set ups that some people do.  The ones that are way over the top are the most fun to admire.  It's not my electrical bill, lol!

We didn't expect this one to stay awake long, and she didn't disappoint.

After dinner and three games of Candy Land, we made up Santa's plate.  We thought he'd want something different than his usual, she we put out oreos, kisses, and water.  And Santa loved them, I'm sure:)

Santa got busy and removed all the presents from under the tree to trick the kids.  (I'd been telling them that Santa was going to take their presents back to the North Pole and give to other kids since they are so naughty)

Notice the bottom half of the tree lights not working?!  Next year I'm getting a tree without lights and just adding my own.  It'll be cheaper in the long haul.

The gifts were transfered to the dining room/office with the fun mini tree.  The gigantic dinosaur and babydoll in the box were set up upstairs outside their door. 

Tomorrows a good one, you don't want to miss the kids reaction to the presents missing! It was good!