Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve we go over to Grandma Cathy's. This year was no different. A table full of snacks and goodies always awaits us! We arrived about noon time and I wasted no time digging into the food. Meat, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, a cheese ball, little smokies, meatballs, mac and cheese, and sausage balls. My favorite is Cathy's sausage balls. And we brought two trays of cookies and a pan of gooey brownies. My mom brought some fudge and a chocolate cream pie. I took the photo before all the delicious food was put out because I couldn't wait any longer to eat, lol. 

Our favorite Christmas Eve tradition is playing the Dice Game. We had my sister Sarah with us this year, as she moved to Goldendale this past Fall, so an extra player! An extra competitive year....it took forever for Tim and I to roll doubles and be able to choose a gift. Everyone else had 3+ before we even got one, darn it. But our bad luck didn't last long, especially for Timothy. In the end, he and Anthony wound up having the most gifts! 

Most of Christmas Eve is spent just hanging out, relaxing. We put on a silly Hallmark Christmas movie so we all could just relax and decompress. Unfortunately, I didn't get a group photo this year. We got caught up in the dice game and then the movie and stuffing our faces. So not a lot of photos in general of all of us hanging out. And I seemed to have missed a photo of Cathy altogether! Uggh. I didn't do very good with taking photos this year. 

 

After getting home, the kids set cookies and OJ out for Santa. You are never too old! No Santa gifts if you don't pay the Santa cookie tax! lol 

 

Usually I stuff the stockings and put out Santa gifts before going to bed....but with the kids being older now, and going to bed after us, I don't want to risk them coming out of their rooms to use the bathroom or get a snack and then seeing Santa's gifts and stuff that night and not having the surprise in the morning. So after the kids were in their rooms, Sam and I ate Santa's cookies, and went to bed ourselves! No trying to stay awake until all the kids were asleep. I'm too old for that now! 

It wasn't until 2 in the morning did we get up and stuff the stockings and set out Santa gifts. I was a walking zombie, but it was fun. 

 

We might be getting older, and the kids might be getting older, but the fun of Christmas never gets old! I love that the kids humor me and don't cringe when I ask if they are going to set cookies out for Santa. I keep waiting for one of them to come eat the cookies one of these years! 

With love,                                                                                                        Mama Hauck