Our Christmas Eve celebrations began in the morning as we loaded up our vehicles and caravanned down to Nana Judy's and Popi Dave's house for some festive family fun.
Sam, with an assist from Rose, were Nana's helpers delivering gifts to each happy recipient.
We opened gift after gift with lots of smiles and excited squeals as each one was torn open to reveal what was hiding inside.
We dined on a delicious mostaccioli dinner (a Dineen Family tradition), searched for the pickle hiding on the tree (Rose was the lucky one to find it!), and played a fun game with ping pong balls that Aunt Donna had brought for the special occasion.
We enjoyed a jam-packed Christmas Eve mass at Nana's and Popi's church - luckily there was ample available seating in the overflow room - and then headed home to get everything ready for Santa's arrival. Kate put together a plate of goodies for Santa and the reindeer and left him a special note about her homemade Snickerdoodle cookies.
Cole was quite worried about me repeatedly saying that everyone had to go to bed early. He really wanted to stay up late. But he was the first to fall asleep and already snoozing by 7:15 pm!
Thankfully everyone took heed to go to bed early as they didn't want to spook Santa...except for Aria. Every time Santa's helper attempted to sneak out of Aria's room, she would awaken. Hours trickled by with lots of dozing off but I just couldn't get past Aria. Eventually the cavalry (aka, Shane) came in to sit with Aria so that everything could be ready for Christmas morning.
Christmas morning arrived bright and early with various sleepy heads awaking throughout the morning. They were all excited to see what El Nino Jesus had left for them. Way back when, El Nino Jesus would leave them gifts at the foot of their beds, but with very light sleepers and half a dozen children, he no longer attempts to enter their rooms and instead opts for a much easier delivery placing the presents just outside their bedroom doors.
Once everyone had ample time to peruse their first batch of gifts, we made our way downstairs to see what the Big Guy in Red had left behind. Along with presents and stockings stuffed full, Santa also left a bit of mess with his goodie plate. He clearly devoured the snacks quickly so that he wouldn't be detected.
We took our annual "smile before you get Santa's presents" photo in front of the tree along with some silly photos.
Each stocking was then delivered to the proper owner as items were taken out one-by-one.
We took a brief pause from Santa's gifts to enjoy warm, gooey homemade caramel rolls.
And then it was back to finish unwrapping the fun items Santa had left.
After lunch and lots of asking "when can we open more gifts?", the kids took turns opening their presents from Mom and Pa. They were all happily surprised as they opened their last gifts. Somehow we were able to pull-off keeping the items a secret - even with the giant gifts that took quite a bit of ingenuity to hide until the big day arrived.
Rose eagerly presented me with a present she had worked very hard on at school - an adorable calendar for the new year.
And Kate gave Rose a handwritten letter she had made just for her big sis. Her penmanship has sure blossomed this year.
The rest of the afternoon, everyone enjoyed their fun items while I got to work on dinner. It's become our annual tradition to have crab legs for our Christmas feast and everyone (except for Cole) was very excited to crack them open and gobble them up. Cole, on the other hand, is more of a chicken nugget fan, but he did give it a nibble.
We ended our celebration with a birthday cake for Jesus - a delicious tres leches cake from Cafe Latte.
A Very Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!
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