Christmas Eve

I ask you, is anything better than the eve of Christmas? I LOVE it, love love. Cody schedule fell on Christmas Eve and Christmas which is sort of a downer, but since we live in the City and he works for the best Department ever he was able to come up and spend a lot of time with us.

Cody's family has a big dinner every Christmas eve, but since our kitchen is done we decided to host it here. I spent the afternoon running some errands and I braved the grocery store. Obviously, it was packed and totally insane but everyone was very gracious and kind because it's Christmas. I came home and rushed to get the house ready and clean and festive.

Our awesome (slightly ghetto) tree.

We have been so busy with the kitchen that we didn't get our tree until a week before Christmas. We put lights on it...and sort of left it at that. This afternoon I made a paper chain with my boys and we draped it around the tree to give it some sort of decoration. Later Cody added some tinsel...it is what it is!

The Fire crew came up with Cody for dinner and when the Jolley's arrived we had a full house! And I loved every minute of it. I loved having my kitchen full...oooh! And here are some pics of my kitchen!

Some of the kids sitting where our railing used to be. Safety first!

One of my favorite things about our remodel is being able to see our tree from the dining room.

This was Christmas for me! Our house was full of music, food, people we love...it was just perfect. We stuffed ourselves silly and had a complete ball. I'm so grateful everyone was able to come...and I'm totally fine hosting this party every year!

Once the kitchen was cleaned up and everyone left, Cody and I helped the boys decorate cookies for Santa. Cole, of course, was topless.

Cody was very proud of his gingerbread ninja.

We took the boys outside so they could spread some 'Reindeer Food' out on the lawn. Cache was very careful in making a little trail of food, while Cole just dumped his bag out in one spot.

Cody built a big fire and we settled in to watch 'The Santa Claus'. The boys finally went up to bed and Cody and I got to wrapping. He had to get back to the station, so I watched 'White Christmas' while I wrapped and got everything in the living room ready for the next morning...

I always stay up way too late on Christmas Eve, but I sort of love it. My house is all quiet and there's this excitement that never settles down. It's warm and festive...I just can't describe it, I love it. Even though we put out 1/16th of our decorations and there's still signs of construction, the feeling of home was there and that's the most important thing.

I better get some sleep...tomorrow is Christmas day!!