Christmas Eve with the Parkinsons

Twas the Night before Christmas...

and all through the house there was merry making, laughing, and scrambling about!

The children were fed their dinner with care, while the parents ate junk food, delights, and all sorts of fine fair. Okay... I could probably keep going, but I'll stop. It was Christmas Eve at the Parkinsons! We had the annual Christmas Eve family four wheeler ride, though Grandma Lael stayed behind with Lyssa, Shayden and Cami, and Heather opted out (in her current pregnant state). Alec felt like such a big boy, going on the long ride. He started out between Grandpa and Nichelle (since he has the bigger four wheeler more suited for three passengers) and I rode with Nick. I prayed the entire way that nothing would happen to my baby. Riding around the yard is one thing, but riding all over Franklin (going much faster) is another! We occasionally checked up on him and eventually he decided that though he loves his Grandpa, he wanted to ride with us. We took it easy all the way back to the house, easing my mind. When we got back to the house Shayden got all bundled up and went for a short ride around too! That cute little boy got so excited to ride with his dad.

When everyone came back it was time for the bambinos to open their one gift on Christmas Eve from Grandma and Grandpa. Alec was so excited to learn that some of those presents he'd noticed under the tree were actually for him!

Lyssa found great enjoyment in the box and the paper.
Shayden knew just what to do with that present! Open it up!

The boys got matching monkey pajamas!

And Lyssa got her first pair of fuzzy footed straight up girly jammies. I love the pokadots....

Eventually the hype started to wear off and the melt downs began, so with a big swish swish they were whisked off to their beds to have sugar plums dance in their little heads.

Lyssa had no concept at all of the event. She's not even a year old yet. Alec, on the other hand, was excited about the presents but a little confused when people told him that if he was naught Santa might not come. I can only imagine he was wondering "What does Santa have to do with anything? He's just that guy in funny clothes who walked by us at the Mall play area." It's not that I purposely didn't talk to him about Santa. I just never really got around to it.

My focus was so set on teaching the babies about the birth of Christ and the nativity, that with all the other travel and craziness we just never really got around to Santa. Thinking about it though, my kids will learn all about Santa from the rest of the world (from friends, the shopping mall, stores, movies, commercials, radio songs). It's probably best that my focus was on Celebrating the Nativity. After all, that is the true reason for the season, and in this world we live in where are they ever going to learn that?

The much anticipated Christmas Day is next!