Christmas Eve.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve.  We had a lazy morning and then we headed to the sites in Kirtland to see the nativities.

 There is something about the red schoolhouse.  It makes me so happy.

Our favorite nativities are always the ones from Peru.

 Graham loved the one make out of Coke cans.  We look for it every year.

 The Christmas tree here is always my favorite.  The ornaments are all made from things the pioneers might have used.  Egg shells, popcorn, dried flowers, candles, dried fruit.  It's gorgeous.

 We can't go to the sites anymore without the elevator getting attacked by Peter.  He played with the button for almost the entire time we were there.  Luckily people things he's more adorable than annoying.  Even seeing these pictures makes him all excited.  He's standing next to me yelling, "Button!"

 Jayne had fun dressing up as an "Angel-Mary".

 The other kids had fun organizing the kid nativities.

 Jeremy and I took turns looking at the fragile nativities without the kids.  It was the best thing ever.  I could actually enjoy them instead of guarding all of them from sudden shattering death by Peter.  I loved the simplicity of this one.

 This picture was so gorgeous.  I want it.

 And this one was just so charming.  Reminded me of my own kids.

 We attempted to get the kids to dress up.  They almost did it for us.  Three of them were super nice about it.

 One of them was a little stink pot that thought everything that he touched would turn him to acid.

 This guy was the cutest little shepherd you ever did see.

 These guys weren't sure how in love they were...

 And this one didn't want anything to do with costumes and ran straight for the nearest exit.

 We had a great time and headed over to visit with some friends near Kirtland for a little while.

 When we got home it started snowing pretty hard.... it was pretty magical.  I love snow on Christmas.  After New Years it can go away.  No such luck in Ohio.

 We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner.  The kids actually liked it this year!

 Humble soup (chicken broth, leeks and potatoes), rustic bread and ice water.  Delicious!

 The kids spent lots of time watching the snowflakes fall... watching for any signs of Santa.

 And then we had our nativity... the kids loved dressing up this year.

 Peter obliged with the hat... but everything else was made of the same acid material they had at the sites.

After dressing up Jeremy read the nativity story.  I wish I could say that it was the perfect evening.  Let's just say there were lots of tears, time outs and threats of no presents in the morning.  

 After everyone was happy again and we got back into the spirit of Christmas... the kids opened up their Christmas jammies and modeled them for me.

 After wearing them for a few hours Lincoln turned to me and said, "Wait.... you made these?!  That makes them even more awesome!"  Made my heart melt.

 We bundled them up in the car... and headed to look at Christmas lights and do one last gift drop off.  I wish I could say that was blissful and perfect too.  It consisted of Jayne talking loudly, a mile and minute and the other kids yelling things like, "Jayne!!!  BE QUIET!"  "How can someone so little be SO loud?!"  "We just want to go to sleep!  Please stop talking!!!"  It was awesome.

After getting everyone happy again... we tucked them into bed in the attic.  They fell asleep in record time.....