I love when Christmas Eve falls on Sunday and we can be uplifted by all the beautiful musical numbers and messages at church. Such a beautiful reminder about the real reason we celebrate this season! After church, we headed straight to the Peacock's house for our family gathering.
We opened gifts fairly early in the day since we had a lot of events on our agenda :)
Our two families decided to give Grandma and Papa a subscription to Storyworth, so hopefully they will be excited about doing it. Basically, they will receive an email each week with a story prompt about their life and they simply respond to the email and at the end of a full year, their stories (and any pictures they want to add) will be printed in a beautiful book. I made one with my dad last year and it was such a beautiful experience for us and will be a treasure for our family. I heard a lot of stories I had never heard before, so hopefully this is also a positive experience for Jerry and Bev.
Next up was our second annual nativity skit, where Colby played Joseph (his forever role), Aubrey played Mary, Kinley was a shepherd, Brooke was a wiseman, and Emery was the angel. The three dads were the innkeepers, Grandma and I were wisemen, and Auntie Mel Mel was the angel's helper :)
I am really loving this tradition as a focal point for our Christmas Eve celebration. We sang a few songs throughout the skit and I felt the Spirit as we did so. (Side note: Brooke's authentic looking costume was a gift from my sister who lived in Bahrain for 6 months and we finally put it to good use. She wore that thing nearly the whole day, haha.)
After the play, Uncle Jeff pulled out his old PlayStation and Colby was super into the basketball game.
Then Kinley gave Kevin a violin lesson and he surprised us all by playing Hot Cross Buns.
We had a yummy dinner (not pictured), and ended the night decorating sugar cookies and playing the pipe chimes, which is one of my favorite traditions. We didn't grow up around family, so we would get together with close family friends and go bowling, put on a nativity skit, and play the chimes. I was given a set of chimes by one of those friends at my "traditions" bridal shower, and I've used them with my old YW and our own family for years.
Grandma requested an updated picture of the kids with the special stockings she made for each one of them. What a treasure!
We drove home that evening and the kids left cookies and milk for Santa and a few carrots for the reindeer. Colby was the first one up the next morning, but we eventually woke Brooke up as well :)
They were excited to know that Santa had been to our house...
Colby asked for a new skateboard and Brooke wanted a 3D designer pen...
Christmas morning cuties...
We had a slow morning opening gifts, which is just the way I like it...
Colby was most excited about his Dog Man book series, and he read them all during the Winter Break.
Brooke was super excited about her clay bead jewelry kit and she got right to work making me some earrings...
Colby was eager to fill up his giant nerf gun with foam bullets...
The aftermath of opening gifts...
We enjoyed some delicious cinnamon rolls, then Colby begged to go outside to try out his skateboard...
He was a whole vibe with his new sweatshirt and pajama pants :)
He also tried out his whittling kit from Nay Nay and Papa. It might be a patience tester, but he'll learn that wood working takes time!
Brooke was totally confused when we gifted her a guitar holder since she didn't have a guitar, but that's when we pulled a surprise gift out of the closet. She hadn't asked for a guitar, but since she was really enjoying playing her ukulele and frequently wanted Kevin to play his guitar with her, he instigated getting her one of her own. They hung it up that morning! (She's also rocking her new Harry Potter pajamas, which are so incredibly soft and cozy!)
Grandma and Papa came over that afternoon and Brooke quickly enlisted Grandma to help her with the crochet kit we gave her. I couldn't remember how to crochet, so I was grateful that Grandma was there to help.
Colby told Papa all about his new book series, and then we finally (kinda) gave in to his frequent requests for a "family Nerf gun war" and had a target competition instead. Papa surprised us all with his sharpshooter skills.
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