Christmas Eve, etc

Lance has the privileged of working Christmas Eve services at church.  It really is exciting to see so many people coming to church on that day and he is happy to be one of the hundreds of staff that welcome them.

Lance's mom joined us again this year (which we absolutely LOVE, but miss his dad coming too) and she came in time for the service.  It's a candle light service with fabulous music and a great message.  I really enjoy being there and the kids do too!  

The next morning was typical for our family.  three wrapped gifts under the tree per kiddo, but one for each kid that is unwrapped and ready to play with.

allie got all new clothes and accessories for her dolls

caleb got a THREE loop race track... that THREE was really important!

Riley got a marble run that could have gone for any of our kids... it was a family favorite!!

Griff got a car mat to drive all his cars on

While they played with their new toys, i got busy making our cinnamon rolls

time to dig in!

 stockings were opened after breakfast

and i must remember that this was the year of the legos!!  hours and hours of building legos!

that evening we all loaded up in the van (in our pjs), grabbed hot chocolate, and enjoyed the christmas lights! 

We usually find pintrest's newest Christmas light scavenger hunt printable to give us plenty of fun on our drive.

i have to admit.... i enjoy this tradition most because they usually fall asleep in the car on the way home.  we simply scoop them up and lay them in their beds.  EASY bedtime.  AND, i can usually squeeze in one more Christmas hallmark show.  i know, so cheesy!

this was a random moment of Christmas, but a picture that can not be excluded.  this kid is pretty funny and keep us laughing all the time!

grammie got to stay for several days and even let us go on a date night!  we enjoyed having her here and didn't want to say good bye!!  love you gram!!  thanks for making Christmas special!!