Christmas Eve

The girls and I decorate a gingerbread house every Christmas Eve day.  The girls did beautiful job and were pleased with how cute it turned out.  

We usually go to a movie but with the rising cost of tickets we decided to try something new this year and took the family bowling instead.  It was a great decision.  The girls had so much fun and I re-discovered I am a horrible bowler.  Daddy won the game by sheer luck.  I was the worst bowler( which I am blaming on being pregnant since it obviously messes up my center of gravity).  JJ was the most consistent bowler.  Zana was the cutest bowler and Biddy did her best but eventually gave up. 

Pregnancy left me with limited energy resources this year.  Burke and I decided that it would be better for me to use it for fun stuff and skip all the cooking.  It was the best decision ever!!!   Rather then slaving over the stove to make a Christmas Eve meal we dressed up the girls and took them to Kobe Japanese Steak House.  JJ and Zana were very excited to have the chef cook their dinner right in front of them.  They were in complete awe at his knife throwing, egg tossing, fireball and volcano making skills.  It was so fun to watch their faces thrill with excitement at each new trick.  Biddy, on the other hand was, scared of our chef and his tricks so she spent the entire demonstration sitting under her blanket.  The restaurant staff had a good laugh.  They had seen scared kids before but never one that hid under their blankie.  After our chef left Biddy came out. The food was fabulous and the girls ate up everything and earned their ice cream dessert. 

That evening we joined my family via video chat for our annual Christmas Eve Program.  JJ played the piano, Biddy and Susanna sang Jingle bells, Burke showed of his new train and I performed a musical number. My family shared their performances with us too and we loved being a part of the special program even though we were far away. 

Before bed the girls opened one special present from Grandma and Papa Craven.  She made the cutest pillow pets for the girls and they were immediately loved and names.  JJ’s giraffe is Funnio, Zana named her Zebra Cici, and Burke helped Biddy name her hippo Pinkie.

After reading the Christmas story, lighting our special Advent candle and setting out the traditional eggnog ( Santa doesn’t like milk at our house) and cookies we let the girls stay up ad watch part of White Christmas with us.  It is a tradition to watch it every Christmas Eve.  They lasted half way through before we sent them all to sleep.  I finished wrapping everything in advance this year so I got to go to bed early too.  It was a prefect Christmas Eve.