Christmas Eve with the Palmer's

Today was a fun family day!
We started everything off with a yummy breakfast and then did a little work to get our house looking great for Santa. (The boys did yard work while the girls cleaned inside.)
For lunch we B-B-Q hamburgers/hot dogs and had a little picnic outside. Then we played a few games of "Boston". It was a ton of fun!
Later in the evening we drank hot chocolate while Dad read us the story, The First Christmas (wonderful book about the baby Jesus). Then we talked about the true meaning of Christmas but also talked about how Santa works into everything.
Then PJ the Elf came and left gifts for the kids at the front door. Every year he leaves them a pair a pajamas but this year he left a note saying that he noticed that they already have a lot of PJ's and so he brought them other clothing items they were in need of.



We then opened one present each. The kids opened "Rock Band" which Grandpa Rick gave us. I had taken apart the huge box and wrapped three smaller boxes so that everyone could open the gift together. Well, when we went to open the gift...one was missing. We search forever! Finally, after about an hour of looking we found it hidden in one of Drew's purses. I was a true Christmas miracle! :)



We ended the night by frosting cookies for Santa and throwing reindeer food on the grass outside (you know to make them come to your house faster).
The kids are now asleep on the floor of my room and hopefully visions of sugar plums dance in their heads. Have a Merry Christmas!

And who through our wondering eyes did appear?

That's right...Santa! Good ol' Saint Nick himself showed up last night at our ward Christmas party. The kids were so excited to see him! Jake was absolutely certain that he was not going to be the real Santa Claus. In his words, "Mom, I have seen a lot of Santa's and they all look different and have different voices". Yes my child is observant! So I explained again to him that Santa can not be everywhere so he has helpers. But I told him that one way to know if it really was Santa was to see if his beard was real. So when we were close enough in line to actually see him, he looked at me with the biggest smile and said "Mom, his beard is real". It was a fun moment!



Nash had this idea that if you give Santa a quarter he will say "HO HO HO!" for you. I don't know how Nash came up with this but I think that Santa should cash in on the idea! So when he sat on Santa's lap we told him about the quater and he took it from Nash and very sweetly laughed "HO HO HO!". Then he gave the quarter back to Nash and told him that he should put it in his bank and save it for another day. Nash was thrilled to have a quater from Santa!





I thought that Drew would be terrified of Santa but she wasn't. She walked right up and sat on his lap. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas and without any hesitation she said, "A Dora House!". It was fun to see her so happy!