Christmas Eve

Since I haven't had time to share pictures of my Christmas "stuff",
here are just a very few of 'my favorite things'...

I love my tree!
I have a fun tree full of handmade and memory-filled ornaments that we all love to decorate and talk about each year, but this one is the one I stare at when I sit on my couch at night.
It is the one that offers me the glow I need to read my scriptures.
This one may not have the memories, but it has the feeling.


My mantle changes every year.
This year I fell in love with the star lights and the itty-bitty jingle bell garland in the hurricanes.

It just makes me happy...


I love Ho Ho's (as I have called Santa for years).
He is one of my favorites. I love to look for Ho-Ho's every where we go during the holidays.


And of course...the Reason for the Season.


I absolutely adore the way the Christmas packages glitter and shine underneath the tree.
It just looks like Christmas Eve to me. I get so excited for my kids to wake up the next morning!


One of our traditions is writing letters to Santa to leave by his milk and cookies.
Some years we leave an apple or two for Rudolph or various other reindeer, but little man really likes apples and just did not want to share. And it is my fault that we forgot to leave Mrs. Claus her little baggie of cookies this year. Oops. Sorry Mrs. Claus! We'll send extra next year.


K's gifts from Santa.


B's gifts from Santa.


I have to explain the significance of the girls' gifts...
They were convinced (thanks to me) that there was no way, no how they were getting American Girl dolls for Christmas. They were just going to have to wait until their birthdays. After weeks of this, they had finally resigned themselves to just that fact.
So you can only imagine how beyond thrilled they were that Santa came through for them!
Lucky girls that Santa is so darn convincing...

Little man's gifts from Santa.


I love Christmas Eve with my little family.
We don't do much, but what we do is so very special to me.
We get our treats ready for Santa, then we all cuddle up on the couch or in our beds to read Luke 2, talk about baby Jesus and why we give presents, and then read "The Night Before Christmas". The girls get to pick their favorite Christmas carols for us all to sing together, and then we finish up with our family prayer.
It is my favorite night of the year.