Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve started off with my brother's delicious French Muffins.  We did some cleaning, some playing, and my kids helped Sarah make gingerbread cookies.

While Ellie napped, Nicholas came with all of the big kids to go sledding, or "bogganing" as he calls it.

 We all seriously over-dressed for the activity.
It was in the high 30's out there, (yes, I said "high 30's." When you live in northern Utah, you acclimate.)
and within the first half hour we'd all shed our coats, gloves, and even our snow pants.

 Here's Josh adding his coat and pants to the pile of discarded warm clothes.

Nicholas started off just going down the little hills, but then he decided that if he brought a little block of ice with him he'd be brave enough to go down the really big hill with the rest of us.

We always do our big fancy dinner on Christmas Eve, so no one has to spend all their day on Christmas in the kitchen.
I set the table,

and my mom baked the most amazing meal. Ham, au gratin potatoes, rolls, jello salad, fresh greens with pears, pomegranates, raspberries and almonds, broccoli and cheese sauce, and finished with a triple chocolate bundt cake served with peppermint ice cream.

We ate by candle light.

My Grandpa Murray owned a beautiful set of real sleigh bells.
When I was a little girl, every Christmas Eve we'd be getting ready for bed when we'd hear Santa and his bells, walking around the house, checking to see if we were still awake.

This year, my kids heard those bells, and they were off to bed in a dash.  Ellie kept saying "Santa! Roof! Down!  Sleep!!" and Nicholas insisted we all go to bed "right now!"
I didn't even get a picture of them in their pajamas with the cookies and milk they set out for Santa.  They got in bed too fast for that.
I wasn't about to get them back up again.

And while they slept, Santa came.

Kent and I stayed up with all my siblings way too late, teasing Jonah with messages on facebook, laughing about pure nonsense, as usual.

It was, truly, a perfect Christmas Eve.