Christmas Eve

It feels like Christmas was ages ago. The tree has been down for over a week, but I still haven't finished my Christmas posts. So throw on some festive music, and let's share some yuletide cheer.
For Christmas Eve we hosted 25 plus for dinner. My parents, Mr. Man's family, and our pseudo cousins. The house was packed, there was lots of laughter and good stories were shared. Mr. Uncle is one smitten kitten.... when it comes to his niece. And we love the lady that is on Mr. Uncle's arm. While everyone was feasting, I stole a moment with Mr. Man under the mistletoe. These ladies are amazing. They are my rock and the people I look up to. I have had some heartfelt conversations with these ladies while working in the kitchen. I love them. After everyone left, the kids changed into their Christmas jammies. I took a posed pic, but this one seems more fitting. The kids were beside themselves they were so excited.
Mr. Man hasn't been well for a few weeks, something I'll address at another time. So I had to jump in and do the tradition reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas. Mr. Man reads the Cajun version, however I just couldn't pull it off, so I went the traditional route.Last Christmas, Mr. Boy opened his presents and because they weren't the coveted 2-9-9-9 cars from Target, he proclaimed them stupid and threw them on the ground. We've been talking about how we need to be grateful and can't throw our gifts on the ground. As he said his prayer, he asked God, "Please help me to remember to say thank you and that I won't say any of my gifts are stupid, like I did with my Batman Pajamas." It was so hard to stifle our chuckles.

And while the wee ones were nestled in their beds with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads... Santa arrived.