Christmas in Ohio

We did Ohio family Christmas traditions early this year since we traveled to Wisconsin for the 25th. We always do a Christmas Eve appetizer dinner by candlelight on the floor. The girls love it that we get to eat with real candles while all the other lights are off! Then Wayne reads the Christmas story and we open a gift. This year we spent the night as well.

Candlelight Appetizer Meal

Ry reading a bedtime story to all the girls. 

This was something new and very fun! Ry's parents found these poppers that we pulled open outside and each found a whistle inside. Each whistle was one note in an octave and, with Wayne directing, we played several Christmas carols....even with the little tykes!! I hope we do this every year!

The next morning we woke up and opened gifts together. The kids were soooooo excited! Around 4am our niece, Eva, got up and ran around the house looking for her mommy (who was asleep on a bed in the same room). She ran to the living room first and stop to stare at Uncle Jordan for a few minutes, ran 3 laps around the kitchen, ran into G&G's room (waking Chloe and Olivia in the process since they were sleeping on the floor in that room) and asked, "Where's my mommy?" A little bit after that I ventured out into the hall thinking one of our girls was up and ran into Eva in the hall and helped her back to her room and tried to get our girls settled back down again. I thought I had succeeded and headed back to bed myself (I had already been awake from 10:30-12:30 with Ian). I found out later that they ended up crawling into bed with G&G and not sleeping until 6am. What an eventful night and fun memory! The girls still think it's a great story to tell and think Eva was hilarious for running around the house in the middle of the night. 

Uncle Jordan got all of the girls fake teeth.....they love them and store them in  their jewelry boxes!!

Snuggle time with Uncle Jordan. 

Opening gifts with Grammy. Ian became a pro at ripping off paper. He definitely enjoys smacking and crinkling the paper/boxes more than the gift and it was so fun to watch him enjoy his first Christmas.