Carpenter Family (and Friends) Christmas
Putting out the food. Notice the crockpot on the counter? It is filled with 4 pounds of meatballs, for some reason the lid was never removed and I still had 4 pounds of meatballs at the end of the night.
Emma is smiling big so you can see that she just lost her first tooth the night before Christmas Eve. She believes this is a good look for her :)
Every Christmas Eve we have a little family party with food and games. I always thought it would be nice to include others in our annual celebration. This year we took that leap and invited actual guests making it the first party we have ever hosted in our home (excluding kiddie birthday parties of course). It was all sort of thrown together at the last minute so there was no time to overly plan or stress. We just invited a few families from church that live in the same town as we do. Thankfully everyone showed up! My biggest party throwing fear has always been that no one will show up.
Warming up the singing voices.
So thankful Mark brought his guitar! Bells and kuzoos for the kids too.
Our first caroling stop. This is one of my favorite neighbors. (we have a lot of awesome neighbors) She said she wanted to come caroling with us next year. Are we doing this again next year? Only if Mark comes with the instruments!
What a great looking (and sounding) group we were.
Heading up to bed in their new pajamas.
Stockings were hung by the chimney with care...
All is calm, all is bright...
Christmas morning. One by one they gather in my bed. I am always the last to wake, I believe Emma came down an hour before the others. They sat patiently while Chad read from the scriptures about the birth of Jesus.
Hayley got to play "Santa's Helper" this year and wear the elf hat.
Emma has been asking for this unicorn pillow pet since September.
It's a very Thomas Christmas. This year Preston got Thomas Pj's, bed set, wooden train, bath toys, board books,and a musical Thomas book.
We've all been snacking on junk food today leftover from the party. Tonight we will head out for our traditional Chinese Christmas dinner and take the long way home to view Christmas lights. Merry Christmas all.