Christmas Countdown #24 -- Christmas Eve!

Day 24:
Tonight is the night! Hallelujah! Christ is born! We will celebrate Jesus' birth with a candlelight service at Church. Then, we'll get ready for Santa's arrival by leaving out cookies on our special cookie plates and sprinkling the reindeer food all over the front lawn. Last, you'll find a special gift from your elf friends that you can open tonight! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve was a wonderful day spent ice skating in the backyard rink, attending a lovely and festive Christmas Eve service at Church, and hosting Grandma and Grandpa Smith for chili and tamales, along with a little more skating after dinner.

we started the morning with a little boot hockey in our pj's

Grandma and Grandpa brought lots of fun gifts, which the boys enjoyed opening on the night before Christmas.  The last gift they received was from Flash and Jingle, our naughty little elves. Each box held a pair of new snuggly jammies, which the boys promptly put on and wore for the rest of the evening!

grandma and 3 boys in jammies

More skating after dinner! This rink is such a hit!

Before we sent them off to bed to dream of sugarplums, we had to sprinkle our reindeer food in the front yard and leave out our cookies for Santa. Then our three little men hit the hay, eager for Santa's arrival, and Mom and Dad stifled our yawns and got to work, if you know what I mean. :)

Just a few words about my Christmas Countdown, now that it's complete. It was a bit of work up front, but was it worth it? Absolutely! I really feel like it made Christmas come alive for us this year. We were in the spirit from day one, and it made the holidays almost seem to last longer, even though our anticipation was building as we got closer and closer to Christmas. The great thing about it is that you can really make it as simple or as complex as you want. I originally planned to mostly use new Christmas books that the kids would open each night, but as I started planning, I got excited, too, and there are just so many great ideas out there that I couldn't wait to try them out. Of course, I was in a good place, too, with our kids at an age that allowed us to do fun things that were appropriate for all of them. A year ago, with Callan barely walking, I wouldn't have had the time or the energy to make this dream come alive. But now that I have, I can't imagine not doing it, and I foresee a very special and memorable Smith Family Tradition in the years to come!!