Christmas Eve

I'm way behind - so Christmas Eve in a nutshell was iffy at the start, but ended on a high note!

Shaun's behavior was seriously iffy leading up to Christmas.

We seriously considered sending Santa away - but in the end had a very long time out and explained that since Santa decides on behavior based on the entire year - that he would probably still come and bring presents - because overall, Shaun is a very good boy.
However, that doesn't mean that mommy and daddy wouldn't take those new presents away the minute he got them if his behavior warranted it. (Why make Santa be the bad guy?)

Well - things improved...they were both adorable in their Christmas Mass outfits and had very good behavior in Church.

After Church we headed over to my mom's for Christmas Eve full of about a thousand different yummy appetizers. 3 kinds of meatballs, 2 kinds of chicken wings, dip after dip, after dip, veggies, mini sausages, shrimp and the big winner in my opinion - Chorizo Stuffed Dates, Wrapped in Bacon....oh, how I dream of this still! It was soooo good!
Anyway all the cousin's played like there was no tomorrow and had soooo much fun. Of course, us grown ups had a blast too!

Here is Shaun - who just happened to have a shirt just like Cousin David-Mark. Aren't they a handsome pair!?

Ainsley with Neena Joan - beautiful!

The cousins! Reganne, AJ, Jordi, Shaun, and Ainsley...

...and don't forget Baby Payton! So cute!

After making it home, we put out cookies for Santa, and sprinkled Reindeer food on the drive way to ensure they found us...then off to bed for the kiddos. Then, because Shaun is getting much more smart about these things, mommy and daddy waited a long time to go to bed so Santa wouldn't come until we were sure the kids were sound asleep.

*(by the way - the Alarms are still working wonders - they didn't get up until 6:30am!)