Yesterday, Christmas Eve, Jeff and I got up bright and early and did something I’ve never done before. Went shopping for last minute gifts! It actually wasn’t too bad! The stores were pretty empty but the items pretty picked through.
After we came home, we literally had to wrap 80% of our gifts. We sat ourselves in front of the TV and went to wrapping.
Danny brought the girls over to get dressed in their Christmas Eve pajamas.
And then it was Jeff’s and my turn in front of our tree.
We then made our way over to our Nana & Tata’s house for our traditional Christmas Eve celebration. Every year all of my dad’s side gets together at my Nana & Tata’s. We eat the fresh homemade tamales and watch the little kids get excited about opening presents. We are fortunate that most of our family are close enough to continue this tradition year after year.
As soon as we got there we started to snack on the yummy food laid out. Kalea found an apple treat that she enjoyed and then returned the peels. :)
Once Hailey arrived, she put her creative juices to the test and documented Christmas Eve from a 1 year old’s point of view.
Every year our goal is to wait until midnight to open the presents. In order to entertain the kids during the wait, they girls played games…
Itsy bitsy spider…
Ring around the roses…
London bridge…
Duck, duck, goose…
I know Hailey enjoyed playing with her older cousins! Even if she played by her own rules. ;)
The last game they played to help the time go by was a version of hot potato. Vanessa read a story and every time she said ran or run, the kids had to pass the gifts to the right. Once the story ended, whatever gift they were holding was theirs!
I love that they had the kids raise their right hand so they new which direction to pass the gifts. Notice which hand (or hands) Kalea has raised.
(Right after the last picture, I ended up misplacing my camera. I didn’t find it until literally the second before we went home.)
Soon after their last game, we decided it was time to open presents. The adults went first and opened our secret santa gifts. This year we placed each gift in a brown bag and wrote 3 clues about the giver on the bag. The receiver had to decipher the clues to figure out who it came from. Shannon bought my gift because and I could have guessed without a clue…I unloaded it from her car. :)
After the adults, the kids opened their gifts. I love watching them open their gifts. They get so excited and seem to love everything they gift. Although, Brooklyn did want some reassurance we had one toy for her at my house, since she got all clothes. ;)
The evening ended up soon after that. We got home late and headed straight to bed.
