Once again my girl woke up earlier than I would have liked, but that just meant, sweet, quiet, early-morning snuggles and loves with Mommy on the couch.
Once Jeff woke up, I got busy making a pan of ham, bacon, egg & cheese sliders for the fam, from this Tasty recipe. I’ve made it many times and it’s always a crowd pleaser. I added sesame seeds for an extra bonus today, which I really liked.
These two each ate a few bites of sandwich, with their arms linked together, and it was adorable.
The boys went back to sleep after we forced them to wake up for breakfast, so we took Emerson to pick up a few gift cards for the boys, she picked out these little animals for them (surprisingly, they still love stuffed animals), and we got stocking stuffers for all five of us.
She had cheese noodles for lunch, followed by the last piece from her chocolate advent calendar, and then went down for her nap.
While I put Emmie down for her nap, Jeff and the boys wrapped a few things, and then it was my turn to sit down and wrap some presents!
The last gift I was waiting to be delivered (sometime between the 17th thru 23rd), finally arrived today. And by the skin of our teeth, we got everything all wrapped and bagged and set out nicely, right before it was time to head out. (Minus the giant narwhal that we waited to put out until after bedtime.)
And when she woke up from her nap, she was very interested and excited to find all the wrapped gifts!
We went over to spend some time with the Pullen’s this afternoon & evening, and we all got to open one gift. Matching plaid for the whole family!
And then we went out to our church for the Bradfordville Christmas Eve candlelight service, with the rest of my family, and our church family. There is no nursery or childcare, so Emmie stayed in the sanctuary with us, and actually did a really great job sitting with us. There was lovely special music, a great message, and beautiful candlelight. I always enjoy this special service every year!
My friend Sara and I took turns taking family photos for each other after the service. She edited hers so nicely, I emailed her ours and nicely asked her to edit it too, since she’s a professional photographer and knows her way around some nice edits. And I love them 🙂 So bright, and glow-y, and warm.
After the church service, we went back to Nana & PopPop’s house for a delicious roast beef dinner, and our first round of opening presents!
Nana had these light-up necklaces, that all the kids loved trying out at some point in the night!
Emerson specifically asked Santa for three things over the last few weeks: a baby doll, an airplane, and a spaceship. Her very first present tonight was this adorable airplane, and she loved it! But immediately after this, she stood up and said, “where’s my baby doll & spaceship?” Kids…
Nana also got her her own tiny vacuum cleaner, and it’s adorable!
And Nana did in fact get Emmie a baby doll!
At the end, once everything was opened, I was trying to put it all in a nice pile, but Emmie was dragging it all over and piling it up in her lap instead.
One of her presents were these new Christmas unicorn jammies, and of course they were perfect to wear for Christmas eve.
When we got home, she moved the very last advent calendar ornament to the tree, before posing for a few Christmas tree pictures and heading to get ready for bed.
Poor little nugget was exhausted, and she actually did fall asleep on my shoulder while I was rocking her and singing her lullabies. She hasn’t done that in forever, so it was really sweet to feel her fall asleep on Mommy, like when she was a teeny tiny baby newborn. Made me emotional and nostalgic, on this special Christmas Eve!