We had a very warm Christmas this year and the kids loved it. They spent the entire day before Christmas playing outside with our neighbors, Riley and Ryan. They even insisted on a picnic lunch so that they wouldn’t have to miss a minute of sunshine.

That evening we hosted Christmas Eve at our house and had several of our favorite families here to celebrate with us — the Walkers, Eastmans, Richeys, and Boyers. The kids donned scarves, towels, and neckties to act out the nativity story.

Carter and Alice were the shepherds. Avery and Hudson were Mary and Joseph.

Here come the wise men, Boston and Cade.

The entire cast: Jordan (narrator), Carter (shepherd), Alice (shepherd), [BACK] Raine (angel – she was standing up on the stairs so my pictures didn’t capture her), Boston (wise man), [FRONT] Cade (wise man), Avery (Mary), Hudson (Joseph).

After the nativity we played gift exchange games. The kids played the left-right game and it was hilarious because most of them don’t know their left from their right without at least thinking about it for a minute! Once they finished we sent them upstairs to watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas while the adults had a white elephant gift exchange.

After saying goodnight to all our friends, the kids opened their Christmas pjs — ninja turtle jammies!