Christmas Eve 2010

Some 300 pictures were taken from Christmas Eve morning through today, and that doesn’t include all the ones I deleted to make space – phew! A very busy few days, family, friends, food and fun. What more could you want? As much as I adore the holidays, I also love putting everything back together and resuming normalcy once it’s done. I have off from my “regular” job this week, so the kids and I are going to be enjoying Winter Break together, spotted with a trip down the shore, and a few shorter jaunts with friends in between. And with New Jersey midway through the first (and hopefully last) blizzard of 2010, it seems like the perfect week to take off.

I’m going to break up some of the pictures from the holidays … a perfect way to ease into a semi-relaxing week ahead. Hope your holidays were just as wonderful as ours!

My day started at 7:30 am Friday morning, as Nick crept to the laptop by the side of my bed, trying to turn it on quietly. Logging right onto Norad’s website, he tracked Santa’s movements ALL DAY LONG. I was more than a little tickled to find out that Santa was just leaving New York as I was putting the presents under the tree that night. Couldn’t have planned it better.
As I was feverishly trying to finish everything for our Christmas Eve dinner, the kids watched a Christmas movie. ‘Tis good to be a kid.

I found a coupon that took $5 off this Hallmark ornament. All the Hallmark stores were long since sold out of the cupcake tin ornament though, so if anyone happens to see it for sale anywhere, please let me know.

Right before Christmas, my Mom takes Nick out to buy a few presents for me and his sister. He loves that, just as much as he loved filled Madeline’s stocking after she went to bed Friday night. Such a good big brother.

A beheaded Santa *and* I had to use the flash. Bummer. Every year on Christmas Eve, the fire truck goes through the neighborhood, stopping for Santa to give the kids candy-filled stockings. Last year, Madeline slept through the blaring horns and sirens. This year, she was wide awake. Candy is that child’s middle name, after all.

I put together a few gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate on Christmas Eve. I used hot glue to assemble them, making them more three-year-old-proof. They even survived when Sadie accidentally dropped hers on the floor.

Sadie did have chocolate chips decorating the roof of her gingerbread house, but she kept eating them.

Christmas Eve pajamas.

I love kid-made treasures. This one is from Madeline and is made with a tracing of her hand.

Dreaming of Santa. I had to do double-duty that night as the Tooth Fairy also visited us. She was actually two days late. Apparently, as Santa told Nick Friday afternoon, she had to help Santa because he was a little behind with his work. Rumor has it that she will be coming back tomorrow too. Those teeth just keep popping right on out!

Project 365
December 24, 2010, Photo #319
Gotta love a heart-shaped chicken nugget.  I would much rather the kids were eating homemade chicken fingers, but in the interest of keeping the troops quiet on Friday so I could clean the house, wrap everything and make Christmas Eve dinner, sometimes I give in.