Christmas Eve

It's my very favorite night of the year.  We celebrated Christmas Eve by attending our church.

These five children put on some of their most beautiful clothes, I curled some hair, Jackson added some suave gel and presto...so adorable!

Love them so very much.

We said hello to my family and then headed into the service.

Miss Lilly didn't make it through the whole way...she had lots to chat about!

But the rest of the kids, including Cami, did so well.  We ended the service with Silent Night and then headed to dinner.

We decided to spice things up this year and took our three kids to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse.  Lila and Jackson love steak, so it was a cool experience for them.  Cameron had some chicken salad from the salad bar and was full for the night.  Thank goodness kids under 6 were free!

We got home later that evening and the kids changed into their Christmas jammies.

Only 1 more night before Christmas!!!  They each got to open one present from us...

then we got out our reindeer food...

and sprinkled it all over the front yard.

We also made sure to set out some special cookies and milk for Santa.

The kids then scurried up to bed.  We listened as Pa Hays read Twas the Night Before Christmas, a book he recorded for the kids before he passed away.  Hearing his voice is always bittersweet, but I'm so thankful that we have that book, as well as two others from my Papaw.  They are such treasures to us and help keep their memories alive.

Jared and I tucked our kids into bed, encouraged them to get some good sleep, and said goodnight.  A big day was upon us!