Christmas Eve has arrived

I've been buying gifts and making plans in anticipation of this day.  Christmas this year is different than any other Christmas I have ever experienced (or looked forward to).  I am more excited to see Ethan and Sydney open their gifts and get excited for Santa than I have ever been for my presents.  They have been talking about it non-stop.  

In celebration of a "white Christmas" we were DUMPED on with snow in the last few days.  Ethan and Sydney helped their dad and Aunt Michelle shovel after Doug and Michelle returned from a jog.  I got them bundled up in their new snow pants, gloves, hats, and coats and handed them their new red kid shovels.  They loved it.  

Syd just loved to eat the snow, in true Sydney-style.

We went over to the Merrill's house and Doug made his annual Peanut Brittle his dad used to make while I grabbed some last-minute items at the grocery store with Michelle.  We met over there as the snow kept falling and roads became pretty slippery.

We had a great time playing in the snow, singing carols, playing in the Wii tournament (Ethan and Sydney loved the Dance Revolution) and eating yummy food.

The Merrill's drew our name for Christmas this year and gave us Hullabaloo and Candy Land games to play with Ethan and Sydney.  They were so excited.

We then braved the snow and went to my parent's house for dinner.  We had a fondue night and it turned out to be a huge success.  We ate a little late due to the snow, but the kids didn't complain and the adults were able to eat first and enjoy ourselves while the kids played downstairs.

We opened new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa B and they all got dressed in their PJs together.

We made it home in one piece in the snow and quickly read a Santa story before hopping in bed.  My bummer of the night was not acting out the Nativity as I'd planned to do with all the cousins at my parent's house.  Lesson learned to fit that in next year.

It was fun having Doug's sister, Michelle, here with us this year and Ethan and Sydney got lots of love attention from her--which they loved.

We had to snap a photo when all the gifts had arrived and were nicely displayed (might I add) from Santa Claus.  We were in bed by midnight, and so excited for Christmas morning.