Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve dinner is actually the biggest feast/dinner I make all year. And here's why...... 

we started a tradition of each kid getting to pick a side they wanted me to make for the dinner. 

It's hard to describe how excited they get about having a CHOICE in my house, but they really do. And it includes a lot of strategic negotiating to with siblings to make sure their favorite things are covered.

This here, this is what each child picked:

Irisita- Strawberry Jello 

(bless her. She was debating between that and mini-corndogs. haha)

Emerson picked biscuits

Kellyn picked Mac-n-cheese

#weareclassy

(and she even gave our guests the evil eye when they were dishing up more than she thought they should)

Aleeya picked Won-ton Chicken Salad...... a recipe of her Aunt Jodi's that happens to be my favorite too.

Royce picked a mango/strawberry fruit bowl

Papi wanted popcorn shrimp.....I couldn't find it and I was NOT going to touch the stuff and homemake it, so he got a shrimp plate that he actually really liked.

Camden wanted crab legs......um, no. The line has to be drawn somewhere, right? I mean we ARE cooking three whole chickens too! So his NEXT favorite thing is scones. Here he is helping me fry them up.

As always we invite the missionaries over and I secretly contact the parents beforehand to find out something their family has every Christmas season too so surprise them with here.

This Elder's was ham-fried-rice.

His mouth dropped when he saw in on the table he was so excited.

And this missionary's family always had 7-layer dip and chips.

As I mentioned before Brooks always grills up his pop-in-the-butt chicken. We cooked up three this time and they always turn out sooooo good and moist.

Oh wait..... what's that look on Brooks' face for?...........

(side note: have you ever noticed that a grill is like a car with it's hood open to men? It's like they all HAVE to congregate around it and only one person is actually working on it....)

All three chickens were crispy-cooked. hahaha

We just got a new grill this week and apparently we aren't used to grills that have all burners working..... I told Brooks we were good w/o them with all the food, but there was actually meat inside that turned out great and still very moist and flavorful.....with a hint of smokey-flavor. 😋

When I say we had a lot of food, we REALLY did. It was crazy. The artichokes were still cooking in the kitchen, we had three strawberry/kiwi Christmas tree pies and the Cinnamon Ice Pepsi that has become our tradition now. 

Kids table and adult table....(Bronson thinks he should sit on the adult table) Our friends the Boydstons also came over to eat.

After the missionaries left the kids got to exchange their sibling gifts to each other. I know this sounds silly but they go to the dollar store and spend 2 bucks on the sibling they picked. They always pick a treat and a toy-ish item. It's funny how even my oldest kids get into it and love the gifts.

Emerson's reacher-pincher just made his whole year.

And the fact that he kept giving his brothers purple-nurples with them on their chest with it made the Boydstons whole year it seemed.

Everly was so pleased with her ring-pops and little purse Camden gave her. That's all she really needs in life anyway.

After the kids went to bed Brooks and I set out the presents.

And during the night Santa came too ......filling their stocking and putting one item by it from him.

It was a HUGE no brainer for Santa to give a double-baby twin stroller to Kellyn. He knows my kids well. I couldn't get over how cute it was.

Personal decorating journal-y scrapbook thingies for Aleeya and Iris and Jurassic World Legos for Royce.

UNC Nike basketball shoes for Bronson and the Lego set that Camden and Emerson were saving their money up for MONTHS to buy......and just could "never get enough". They are going to FLIP!

I actually feel kinda silly posting the pics of things all set up, but my kids love looking at past year blog books and saying, "ah-man, remember we got that?" "That was so cool." or hopefully it brings back the magic of the moment when they first saw them upon awakening.

I went to bed knowing it was going to be a magical Christmas morning!

I get kinda giddy!!!!!