Christmas Eve 2008

We had such a great Christmas this year!

It was so much fun with the kids and spending time with all of our family. Each year we kind of have the same schedule and I must say it has worked out fabulously for us. We spend Christmas Eve with the Diederich family, then Christmas day is with the Henrie's. We love that there is no pressure to leave the family we are with to get to the other family and this way everyone knows where we are going to be and when and can plan on that. It has been the best situation for everyone involved.

On that note, let me tell you a little bit about our Christmas Eve!

It was so much fun! We started out joining everyone for a movie, something we plan on every year. This year we saw The Tale Of Desperoux which was a cute show. We usually don't take our kids since they are a little small for movies, but this year we decided to try it out on Reagan and she was a star! She loved it! I don't know if she was too into the movie, but the sitting in the dark with all of her cousins eating popcorn was pretty cool. She did so great that I am excited to try another one!

After the movie we picked up Crew and met everyone back and mom & dad Diederich's house. (They were generous enough to let us use their home even though they are out of the country!) It really wouldn't have been the same if we were anywhere else. We had a fabulous dinner followed by Santa coming and giving all of the kids their pajamas and then exchanging the rest of the gifts. At this point we all walked across the street to Steve's sister, Heidi's house for a talent show. Some of the kids had prepared something and it was fun to watch them all. I'll tell you about Reagan's talent later. After the talent show it was back to mom & dad's for dessert then it was time to pack up and get home to bed so Santa could come and visit again!

Above are the following pictures (from left to right)...

• All the cousins (minus two who live out of state)
• A few of the girls closest to Reagan's age, she LOVES them!
• Cute Crew (LOVE his face!)
• Reagan playing the piano for the talent show
• Steve and Crew watching the talent show

So here is what you see in the pictures above (from left to right)...

• Reagan and Crew dancing
• Reagan & Crew in their new jammies from Santa
• Reagan giving Crew a big hug
• Reagan HATING Santa
• Crew LOVING Santa

I have to tell you about Reagan's talent at the talent show. As we were all sitting around the living room about to get started they decided they would go from the youngest to the oldest. That puts Reagan and Crew first. Well Crew just sits there when they call on him so they move on to Reagan. I thought she might sing a song or something (she loves Do a Deer from Sound of Music) I was way off. When they said her name she walked to the front of the room, pulled herself onto the piano bench and proceeded to quietly and gently pluck out some notes on the piano as she looked and the sheet music that was displayed on the piano as if she were reading every note. Everyone just kind of stared at her not knowing really what to do. She was obviously content to continue as she loves to have every ones attention and at that moment she surely did. So, seeing that this could take awhile I knew I should probably do something to nicely get her down so I just started clapping and saying "Yeah, Reagan!" Everyone followed my lead and started clapping for her. Reagan seemed to be waiting just for this moment because she easily slid off the bench, turned to face all of us, and gave the biggest and longest bow. She was so serious as she did all of this that we all just busted up laughing. It was my favorite talent of the night!