Christmas Eve

For our Advent countdown calendar this year, we did the one out of the children's "Friend" magazine. Every day told about a different tradition around the world. We tried to do most of them and it turned out to be a very fun way to celebrate Christmas this year! This is the "England" evening. We did the crackers with the hats and toys inside like the children in England do. We had a lot of fun with this!

On Christmas Eve we had our local missionaries over for dinner. We enjoyed a nice ham dinner, shared Christmas legends and stories and give the Elders their gifts, wrapped up cereal, chips, and Ramen!

We decorated gingerbread cookies on Christmas Eve too. The Elders each did one as well, but I think the kids enjoyed theirs the most!

Andrew wasn't sure if he was suppose to bite it or play with it, so he gave biting a try...hmmm?

Ben is very proud of his!

Tatiana made a gingerbread girl, very nice.

Nick ate his head before I could take a picture, so he replaced it with his own.

After the Elders left we took part in our newest family tradition. This year, for the first time, we exchanged names for gift giving. The only criteria is that the gift had to be homemade! It was a wonderful way to focus on the giving and really think about what you can make for someone else that they could use or want. We exchanged these gifts on Christmas Eve to let them stand apart from all the other gifts we would be opening on Christmas morning.