Christmas Eve with Savannah's Family

This year, we spent Christmas Eve with my family. We had our traditional dinner of Marinated Meat and Fondue. After dinner, Josh and I had to run a quick errand. Now that Melanie lives in town, we volunteered to do grandma & grandpa's "Santa run" while they were there so they could see the excitement from the inside. Barb had dropped off the gifts earlier, so all we had to do was go leave them on the porch. I didn't get any pictures, but it was fun. I watched from the car while Josh played Santa. He sat the bag on the porch, rang his bell, laughed "Ho Ho Ho" and rang the doorbell. Then he ran as fast as he could back to the car. We saw the boys open the door, look around and then see their gifts.

After that, we went back to my mom's to open presents. 

Well, open the rest of the presents. Before dinner, I was too excited to wait. When I noticed neither boy was dressed, I decided it was the perfect time to open one of their gifts. I had wrapped their gifts into 5 packages for each. I un-taped a few corners until I could find their John Deere shirts, then re-taped them and took them to the boys. They were both excited to get to open a gift. Having presents under the tree has been a huge temptation, and my sister had waited until that morning to put them there!

 Daxsen loved seating in a big chair by the adults. 

I forgot to take a picture of the gifts we gave to my family. For my mom, we got her a vanity mirror that attaches to the wall and has a hinge so she can move it to where she needs it. For my dad, we decided to put money on his electric account. I had Alden's name and he actually got  his gift early. He needed to register his car last month and was short on the cash, so I chipped in to help him. I wanted him to still have a gift to open, so I gave him 2 car air freshener's on Christmas Eve. Josh had John's name and gave him a huge coffee thermos. 

My mom got me a rolling scrapbook tote and she gave Josh a gift card to Sportsman's Warehouse (it included enough money for his birthday present too.) Alden had Josh's name and made him a plate of treats. Vanessa had my name and is still working on it, but included new paintings from the boys. 

My dad was sick over Christmas so we didn't see him until today. I tried to surprise him by driving to his house on Christmas Day, only to find he wasn't home. He had decided to go to work so he wouldn't share his cold with anyone. He got us a Kelly Kettle to use when we go camping and also a gift card to Cal Ranch.