Christmas Eve-ning

Saturday Night, December 24th

We had LOTS of fun activities planned for Christmas Eve.

My sister and I are pretty organized, so we wrote an itinerary for our post-nap schedule. No joke.

It went a little something like this:

4:00PM - Wake up from naps

4:15-5:15PM - Swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's pool

5:15 - Baths & Showers

5:30 - Christmas Eve Dinner

6:30 - Decorate Cookies For Santa

7:00 - Scavenger Hunt

7:30 - LDS Christmas Videos

8:00 - Nativity

8:30 - Stories & Bedtime

You might be thinking we are crazy for having an itinerary, but trust me, it helped us have a fabulous evening that was pretty much injury,tear, and whine-free! We consider that a success!

Our Christmas Eve Meal: Hawaiian Haystacks, a Morrison Favorite.

Delicious! Now, on to decorating cookies.

"One for you, and one for Santa" -- that was our motto.
Ashley even got to "decorate" her own cookie.

She decided to also "decorate" her face.

She's so sweet! Especially with a face covered in frosting!
She quickly learned that all of the fun was happening at the little table and she wanted to be a part of it. So, here she is putting sprinkles on her cookie, just like the big kids!
Santa better save room for these delicious cookies!

Scavenger Hunt Time:

It was nice this year because Landon could read, so we got to sit back and watch the crazy fun while he read each clue! The older kids did a great job of letting the smaller ones have a chance to find the clues, even though their excitement/anxiety for doing so was practically bursting out of their little bodies!

I'm not sure if I have ever seen Karli as excited as when she found this clue before any of her cousins. A huge life moment for her, really.

There was even a clue in Ashley's storage closet/bedroom.

--My mom fixed it up so cutely, didn't she?--

As I was looking through my pictures to see which ones to post, I noticed that during the treasure hunt, most of the pictures have one or more of the Mahaffey's in mid-air, full of excitement, kind of like this:

Looks like Karli was mid-air with excitement too.

I love that they have such an outward manifestation of happiness.

FINALLY! The presents at the end of the treasure hunt:
ASIAN JAMMIES!! So cute, and comfy.

How could I not post this picture?
I have never noticed that her tongue is THAT long. Wow.

Here is a picture of the kids, calming down after the crazy scavenger hunt, getting into the spirit of the real meaning of Christmas for the Nativity. If you are a teacher, you will know the term: TRANSITION!!

The Nativity

Joseph: Landon Mahaffey

Mary: Sydney Mahaffey

Shepherd: Karli Smith

Wiseman: Keely Mahaffey

Angel: Ashley

Baby Jesus: doll

Mary (understudy): Karli Smith

Chad read from the Bible, and the kids acted out the Nativity.

The kids really got into character with props and all.

They were all quite the thespians.

Here is Keely waiting in stage left:

It looks like the wise man presented Baby Jesus with some sort of CalTex gift.

The angel's performance left a little bit to be desired.

She mostly just crawled around and tried to make people laugh. Good think she didn't have a major part. She might be ready for more responsibility next year. We'll see.

What a fun night!

Before bed, the kids made sure that the cookies for Santa were out, and our stockings were ready.

I wonder if Santa will find us in Singapore?