our "Christmas Eve"

Due to being in Abilene for Christmas this year and the difficulties we had with transporting the type of item that Kendall asked Santa to bring her, we decided to have our "Christmas Eve / Christmas morning with Santa presents" after we returned home.  It worked out to have it with Ashley's parents once they arrived ... tonight.  Since Kendall is only 2.5 this year, we figured we could get away with it this year ... but possibly not next year!

So, for our "Christmas Eve" on Dec. 28th, we started a couple of family traditions this year, now that Kendall is able to participate a bit more ...

We sprinkled out "reindeer feed" on our front lawn.  Uncle T went to Alaska on a recent mission and visited the North Pole while he was there.  He brought back reindeer dust for his niece & nephews.  We covered our lawn with their feed ... to help the reindeer find our home and enjoy a little snack on their long journey!  Kendall loved sprinkling it everywhere ...

We decorated {more} cookies for Santa ... and put them on our new plate, along with a nice cold glass of milk, with a note, for our special visitor.  {She really wanted to eat the star she had decorated but was finally convinced that Santa could have it.  However, she did suggest that "he just eat a little bit and share with me later" ... and she was very serious about it.  Luckily, Santa was willing to do just that!}

We read {or should say, we listened to} a book called the Very First Christmas, which is a recordable book that Huni & GranGran gave Kendall last year and we have enjoyed throughout the year!  I know we'll add more story traditions as she gets older, but this was a good start for this year.

And then, Little Miss went off to bed ... knowing Santa was coming over to leave her a present after Mommy & Daddy and Kendall were all in bed and asleep.

And then it was time for Daddy to get to work ... being Santa's little elf to put together her new kitchen.  21 instructional steps and a power tool or 2 later, it was time for Mommy's job of adding on all the sticker-decals ... and then it was finally complete!

Looking forward to a fun Christmas morning with our sweet 2 year old in the morning!  Not only will Santa have left her a present, but Huni & GranGran will be at our house as well ... she will be quite surprised!