Twas the night before Christmas

The girls have been so excited about all of the festivities surrounding the Christmas celebrations...whether it was school parties, home decorations, wrapping presents for siblings, church plays or even just talking about Jesus' birth, Santa Claus, the North Pole elves and all the other stories we share around this time of year. Today they were thrilled that it was Christmas Eve! And to us, that means a few things...first, we need to get our cookies ready for Santa. With our number one Top Chef in the kitchen, it wasn't long before the sugar cookies were made and baked to perfection. Abby, Blaire and Reagan all sat together deciding what cookie cutters we'd use. Finally the snowflake was chosen and Abby decided Santa would get two cookies - one for him, and one for the reindeer to share. It was such a fun morning around here!

The afternoons of Christmas Eve mean lunch and presents with Eric's side of the family. We headed over to Nana and Papa's house and enjoyed a great meal as well as some fun present opening. But probably the best time of the entire day will be remembered by all....including Jesus (a Mickey Mouse doll), Mary (Aunt Carol), Joseph (Uncle Aaron), the angel (Ra Ra), the shepards (Nana and Papa), the donkey (Reagan), the bull (Blaire), King Herod (Eric) and the wise man (Barbara). Abby decided she was going to write and direct the play of the birth of Jesus...and it was nothing but The Best Christmas Pageant Ever...the Herdmans had nothing on the Wades, ha ha! Abby would go around the room assigning parts, looking at her "Director's Paper" (which she had written all sorts of words on and in her mind, it was her script), and then she'd tell you what to say when it was your turn. It was hysterical...not sure if we've ever laughed that hard over there. People always use the phrase "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and it was wonderful to see our four year old recognize that and make the celebration the most memorable!