Christmas Eve...

here I am trying to catch up...

Christmas eve was spent waiting for Hubs (yes i call him hubs not husb, lol) to get off of work, he finally got home around 4pm.
We rushed out of the house to start our Christmas shopping.  We had some gift cards given to us as gifts, so we were able to get all of the kids a new pair of shoes.  I was so happy for that!!!!  Then the clock said 5pm, I called around and found out Target was going to be open until 6pm and Walmart until 8pm, so we rushed to Target, the kids voted that they each were going to pick one sibling this year to get gifts for their stocking.

We rushed through target  until they turned off the lights and asked everyone to come to the check out.  So next we rushed to and through walmart.  Husb and I were able to buy each other one thing, and it was so stressful trying to go through the store without catching the other one looking at something, then they started announcing that the store was closing and we had to go to check out, 10 minutes later the floor managers were walking down every aisle having the customers go to the front, it was funny.

After that store we rushed into the grocery store to get the last things we needed for our Christmas dinner and some for tonight, then off to the Bat-mobile!

First thing we did was give all of the kids a new set of pajamas, a new little tradition we will hopefull be able to continue.  Only the 4 little ones seem to participate in pictures, lol

Next I baked sugar cookies and set up the table with frosting and the cookies.  What came next was a sugar avalanche, lol...  on the BIG paper tray id one cookie from each of them for Santa, hhhmmm, I wonder who ate theirs, lol...

iera

Next came writing their letters to Santa Claus, and yes, I know we were a lot behind schedule thank you very much, lol

While we did the letters, Daddy hung the stockings in the living room, and yes again, I do know we are late with that as well thank you very much, lol, lol.  The kids put their letters to Santa Claus in their stockings, and after that I had to cover the stockings with a sheet so each kid could put their gift in their siblings stocking...

Next the kids put their gifts for mommy and daddy that they were able to "shop" for at one of the wonderful USO events...

For the first time, our family sat down and read/had read to The Night before Christmas...

The kids were all tucked and heaters were turned on in their rooms, time for the fun to start....
we took out the gifts that we got to "shop" for at the USO.  It was such a fun experience ;)

What came next was just no where to be seen in advance, lol, hubs (yes i call him hubs, not husb, lol) were wrapping presents until 730am; yes i said it, 730am!!! lol  it wasnt that they were so many or anything like that, lol, we just had to keep stopping because kids kept comming in the living room, and we didnt have tape, so we were using hot glue gun, and school paste, lol, santa was probably laughing at me so hard that i know what will be in my stocking next year, lol.
We finished and ran to bed, so i guess we fell asleep around 8am on Christmas day, lol