Our Christmas Eve Extravaganza

The girls awoke to find Relfie hanging out with the singing fish in the kitchen. Guess he likes to hear the fish sing as much as my girls do.

We had a very busy Christmas Eve that started off with some snow tubing with the girls. It was a lot of fun but very tiring hiking up the hill each time before heading down again. The girls couldn't get enough of it.

After tubing Karen joined our family for lunch with Santa and Mrs. Clause where we got to have pictures taken with them. We also saw Frosty, Rudolph, and the Gingerbread Man while we were there.

In the afternoon we all headed to Santa's Workshop to make some glass and porcelain items to be fired and mailed to us later this week. It was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed it. I think we will have to do this again sometime at the pottery place near our home. I will post pictures of the finished products when we receive them.

The girls chose horses to paint.

I picked a wreath ornament to paint and write on to add to 

my collection of ornaments from places I visit.

Nathan painted a Marine camo vase.

Karen and Helena chose trivets made with broken pieces of glass.

Sean and Mika painted gnomes.

When we got home we scavenged the fridge for leftovers and then enjoyed hearing the Nativity story from Luke read to us by Uncle Mark.

After the story it was time for our Christmas Eve presents to be opened. It is tradition to receive Christmas pajamas to be worn to bed so they can have pictures taken the next morning in nice clean jammies while opening gifts. We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the kids in their new duds.

Look! Nathan DOES smile! Here's proof!

After jammies it was time to set out treats for our expected visitors. The girls put out cookies and milk for Santa along with carrots, an apple and water for the reindeer. K even put out a special plate of goodies for Rudolph and the note she wrote to Santa.

We were just getting ready to put the girls to bed when we heard a knock at the door. And who do you suppose it was? An elf from Santa Clause. She came to read the girls a story or two and put them to bed. The girls were excited to see her and dog-piled her once she sat down. They each got to pick out a story for her to read to them and then she gave them a little treat. A cute goodie bag with some candy treats to help them have sweet dreams. Then she took them up to their beds and tucked them in, reminding them to stay in their rooms and go to sleep quickly so Santa could come bring them a special gift.

It was a long and exhausting day but so much fun for everyone. I am so glad we were able to come up here and spend a wonderful Christmas together. It truly was a magical time and I am a little sad to have it end tomorrow. I definitely recommend bringing your family to Sunriver for Christmas if you can.