Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent in Park City @ Eric & Mindy's house this year.
It was awesome because EVERYBODY from both families were there.  That rarely happens.
We ate dinner, sang Christmas carols, watched Christmas Vacation, and opened presents.
Here are some pics from the evening:

 Side story:
My camera broke a while back.  It still takes pictures but the LCD screen doesn't work and neither does the zoom.  It's been a major bummer to say the least.  Since it hasn't been working properly I haven't let the kids touch it.  On Christmas Eve, while everyone was eating, Addison got her hands on the camera and was playing with it for quite a while until I noticed.  When I took it back from her, guess what?  It was working- LCD screen, zoom and everything!  Not sure what she did, but I'm glad she did it.

Pulling more of this face.
They're trying to look like the WHOS' from WHOVILLE.
Addi wanted in on the action with her famous "monster face." I love it!

My FAVORITE pic of the night.
Isn't she ADORE?
Addi has an infatuation with anything little.

She LOVED this little snow globe.

The kids opened their Christmas jammies.
They also got snowball makers from Aunt Mindy. 

It's a good thing they were already in their jams.
They were OUT COLD within 10 minutes of leaving Eric & Mindy's.
We thought they looked so cute all cuddled up together. 

I was mighty jealous of my snoozing kiddos because I was SO SO tired, too.

The whole way home from PC I wondered how I was going to make it- I still had a couple hours worth of Christmas preparations to do once I got home.  
Luckily I caught my second wind.

I wrapped and prepared LOTS of presents with Dave as my assistant ;)
 

Once all the presents were wrapped and under the tree we finished Curt's stocking.  We all have the cutest stockings (think that stocking to the right) that my parents made us LONG LONG ago.  We LOVE our stockings!  Except Curtis, he doesn't have one.  He's NEVER had a 'real' Nelson stocking.  My mom had good intentions but never got around to it.  She bought a kit months ago and about a week before Christmas she pulled it out and Nils offered to make it.  Let's just say Nils did put in some serious time on that thing but if left to his own devices, that stocking STILL wouldn't be done.  We all worked on the stocking around the clock.  It was constantly laid out on the kitchen table so whenever anyone was hanging out in the kitchen, they pulled out a needle and thread and got to work.  We figured 40+ hours went into that thing.  We were determined to get it done by Christmas.  
It still wasn't done Christmas Eve so we all stayed up til the wee hours of the morning to finish it.  Well all but Curt.  He said that since we didn't have to make any of our own stockings then he wasn't going to make his.  We all slaved away as he slept on the floor by the fire.  
That was a funny night.  We were tired so some hilarious dialogue was happening.  For example, around midnight when both the kids were sound asleep in their beds Nils said, "WAIT! Don't we need to set out milk and cookies for Santa?"  He was dead serious, too.  Don't worry, we let him down easy.  Another funny thing was when a jingle bell from the stocking sounded and my mom said, "I think I hear Santa!"  Jess responded, COMPLETELY serious and a little annoyed, "Nu- uh Mom, that was a jingle bell on the stocking."  I think my mom's response was something along the lines of, "no sh** Sherlock."  We all got a good laugh.  It was late.
I wish I had a pic of the finished stocking.  It turned out DARLING and Curt had a finished stocking filled with all the stuffers Christmas morning.

What a GREAT Christmas Eve!