T'was The Night Before Christmas....

...and what a night it was! We started out the day completing things for that night and for Christmas day - running to the grocery store, baking pies and preparing breakfast for the next morning. After all the preperations were taken care of we headed over to Grammy and Papa's house for the Christmas Eve celebration. We were so happy when Doug called around 5:30 to let us know he was on his way - We expected he would have to work until 9:30, so it was a special surprise that he was able to join us early. We had a yummy dinner and watched the kids open their gifts afterwards. It is so cute to watch these guys right now with all their excitement. It is the height of the Santa years for our little ones and I really enjoyed watching their wonder and excitement as the holiday season progressed. The kids enjoyed their gifts - checking out new boots and dolls, playing with new legos and having a boxing match (or two). After heading home the kids hurried to leave out milk and cookies for Santa and to sprinkle the reindeer food on the front lawn. Doug and the kids checked up on where Santa was on the NORAD to see his progress and after that we snuggled up on the couch to read The Night Before Christmas and The Christmas Story together before we tucked them into bed. After the bigger kiddos were tucked in Kate played a bit with her new ride on (She LOVES it Grammy and Papa!) and then before tucking her into bed she had her turn with a plate of cookies - this has been a tradition since Noah's first Christmas. I love to see their eyes light up at a big plate of frosted cookies.... just for them.. Such sweet memories.

Merry Christmas!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas spent with their family and close friends. We're thinking of all of you that aren't with us, sending love and hope to see you soon.

Dollywood's Smokey Mountain Christmas

This was taken while we were sharing a funnel cake -Yum!

Ha, you can see where Noah gets it from....

My two favorite guys!

Pure Sweetness!

The beginning of the parade-

This guy was amazing on a set of stilts! =) Noah loved it!

I loved these trees - they were gorgeous!

This was the only character Rachel would have her picture made with and she still wasn't getting too close!

Santa's Workshop

Noah thought the huge nutcrackers were cool.

Rachel's favorite - the giant doll house.

We saw snow on the way there! =)

The kids really enjoyed the lights up at Dollywood. We got to experience the lights, a parade and the carols of the trees where the lights on the trees change color to the Christmas carols as they play. It was pretty neat. The parade had floats made up of a lot of Santa's toys. We also got to go through Santa's workshop filled with Christmas trees, flowers and over sized toys. We shared a funnel cake and the kids all enjoyed it including Kate - of course, I haven't seen much she doesn't enjoy. Doug spent most of the night carrying Kate around in his coat trying to keep himself warm. It was a good time even though it was pretty cold!