Christmas 2013 Part 2

On Monday December 23, we invited some friends from our ward over for Ableskiever and a special Christmas family night.  The lesson was good, the company better, and the food best of all.  I did well at making the Ableskeiver this year.

Zaby is always ready to eat!

  

 We drew different pieces of our Little People Nativity set out of a bag and found some scriptures to support their role in the Savior's birth.

Everyone participated, even the missionaries who mentioned that Ableskeiver was the best meal they've had on their mission to date.  If that isn't a complement, then I don't know what is.  

Eliza enjoyed sharing her toys and dolls with her friend Sadie.  Aren't they so cute togther.  Before everyone left, we had to get someone to take our family picture next to our tree in our matching jammies.  Eliza chose the fabric this year, and I think she did a great job!  Lucky her, she aready chose the fabric for next year too because we happened to be at Joannes when they put their Christmas fabric on clerance for 75% off.  With my coupon (because I always shop with coupons), I got our Christmas fabric for very little.  Score!

I made both pairs of jammies for the kids a couple sizes too big (because it was easier), so they will be able to wear this pair for awhile.  

As per tradition, we slept in the family room together on December 23rd.  We normally sleep under the tree, but since there isn't enough space in that room anymore, we had to make a minor change.  Besides that, we spend the evening watching Christmas movies and eating treats, and the tree and TV/DVD player isn't in the same room, we had to adjust accordingly.  At the beginning, the kids were estatic.  The novelty of sleeping anywhere but alone in your bed was almost too much. 

It took a long time for the excitement to wear off, and for sleepiness to set in. 

 They wrestled with dad on the bed for a while.  Finally, exhastion overcame Zaby and he zonked out on the twin air mattress.    Eliza was not quite as fortunate.  I fell asleep before she did. 

She tossed and turned for another hour.  After one more trip to the bathroom, she nestled in for some pre-Santa sleep - or so we thought.  Within a half hour, she was awake and crying.  Her crying woke Zaby up.  At this point, I started to wonder why we thought this was a fun tradition.  I was having anything but fun. 

As cool as it is to sleep together in the family room; Eliza loves the comfort of her own bed. I ended up tucking her into her own bed where she slept peacefully the rest of the night.  I eventually got Zaby back to sleep between Bruce and I.  However, Zaby is a wild sleeper - moving every which way in his sleep.  I soon found myself kicked off the mattress.  I moved to the couch.  It didn't take long for my absence to go unnoticed.  In a semi-conscious state, Zaby crawled over to the couch and climbed up to me.  As soon as his head hit my stomach, he was asleep again.  And that's how we spent the night.   

In the morning, when all was said and done, I decided to stick with this tradition.  We may not get much sleep (espeically the parents), but we are bonding together.  I get lots of snuggle time, and we are making fun memories to last forever.