pajama ride!!

dark
lights
pajamas
boots
hat
spoon
bowl

those were just some of the clues the boys worked for {each bite of split pea soup got them one clue} but they never guessed what the Christmas eve surprise was. They seriously had like 30+ clues. They ate an entire stock pot full of soup. Ha! Might try that one again.

Can you guess what the surprise was?

all of the kids were told to go upstairs and put on their pj's that I had laid out, and there were boots and hats with them.

they came downstairs all confused




i told them to go get a spoon and get in the van...



they STILL had no idea what we were doing {the spoon really had them confused}

after we were driving I handed out bowls of ice cream {with lids} and we went off in search of the best Christmas lights!



when we got home their were presents under the tree... my dad had come into town - without the boys knowing - and had put gifts under the tree and then drove to get coffee waiting for us to come home.

They were so excited but kept saying how did someone get in our house and who could it be. We said it 'must be santa' but that didn't work. {we don't do the whole santa thing}

a few minutes later my Dad came back and we all enjoyed a nice evening sitting around reading Christmas stories.



it was so nice to be home this year!

what did you do on Christmas Eve
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38 comments:

  1. We had family over for dinner. On Christmas we stayed home all day and it was wonderful. We went to see the lights in our jammies too on Christmas night.
    *We don't do Santa either!

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  2. Oh what fun! I love this idea! What an amazing memory for your kids ...

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  3. Oh how fun! That is a great idea. I bet they loved it! On Christmas Eve we went to my husband's brother's house for dinner, then went back to grandma's for bed.

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  4. What a Christmas eve...on Christmas eve, the family went to my uncle's house and had a fiesta. They got new carpet and I reacted with hives, then we came home, and went to sleep! We also got a family picture too! Glad everyone enjoyed Christmas eve!
    ~Elyse~

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  5. what a fun idea!!! glad that you had a nice Christmas!

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  6. We went to Christmas Eve service at 6:00 and then went to the hospital where we work to join other medical staff and their families in singing Christmas caroles, the children giving ornaments out to the patients and all of us trying to lift the spirits of staff, patients, and families that cannot be at home or church on this special night. We go all over the hospital and then finish in the chapel with prayer. It helps to remind them that they are not forgotten and to remind us how very blessed we are. It makes such an impact on young eyes to see that not everyone is celebrating with good health or at home with their families as they strive to get well or they are the ones holding their hands and giving them them the help they need to improve. Momma has to get a few good pictures when we get home of everyone all dressed up and then we load into Christmas pjs. Often there is a special movie recorded to watch like "It's a Wonderful Life", "A Christmas Carol", or "A Christmas Story".
    Then off to bed to a long winter's nap (at least for four of us, two are up a little later:)

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  7. OMGosh! How fun! And what a cute picture of that van full o' kids!

    On Christmas Eve, we slip back in time turning on the Bing Crosby movie, Holiday Inn, wrap gifts and watch my mother-in-law continually nod off, startle, nod off, startle, etc... (You get the picture!)

    Pam

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  8. Going out to look at lights is the one tradition we didn't get to this year. Julia screams in the car most of the time so we weren't motivated to do it. Ice cream is a great idea! We've ordered a pizza to go before and eaten it in the car while we drive around.

    How sweet of your dad to surprise the boys like that!

    Our Christmas Eve was busy but good. My favorite parts were the quiet ones - walking up to the tiny church for late Mass, watching all the cousins listen to PapaBear read the Christmas story...

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  9. Sounds like a perfect idea for Christmas eve and what a special treat for the kids to see grandpa! If you dont mind be asking how come you dont do santa? Do they believe there is a santa?

    We went to my aunt and uncles house (we do this every other year, on the other year we are with my husbands family) and had lots of fun singing songs and spending time with family!!

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  10. what a cute idea! We travel alot to see both sides of the family... it would be nice to be home thought too...

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  11. Magical! I love Christmas Eve. Even if you don't do Santa (we don't, either) there is still such anticipation in the air. And so much love!

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  12. What a great surprise!

    We went to church on Christmas Eve and then came home. We let the kids each open one gift-6 pairs of (pairs of) matching pajamas!

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  13. it is so fun to see another family that doesn't 'do' santa! i feel like we're the only ones sometime. what a special surprise for them. christmas eve is always spent at my grandparents house. which is getting way too small for the growing families! but still loads of fun.

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  14. What a beautiful idea!! Sounds like such a good time.

    We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws at my MIL's house. It was a wonderful night with wonderful family!!

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  15. That sounds really fun....we had dinner all together. I read my children "The night before Christmas" a loooong standing family tradition and then I just flopped about feeling HUGE!!!!!

    :):)

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  16. That is so cute. You are so creative. We just went to my in-laws house as we do every year and opened a few gifts and ate.

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  17. We always keep it simple Christmas Eve. We listen to Christmas music and then play board games till bedtime. My children do believe in Santa, so that creates a lot of excitement and more willingness to go to bed. We do not go overboard with presents though as we think that deflects from the meaning of it all. We read a biblical book - this year :The Crippled Lamb and the Most Important Shepherd of All. Then, it's off to bed. I usually put out some gifts before bed (from Santa!) and then get Christmas lunch organised for the next day,so we can go to church in the morning. That's about it - but it's being together that counts!:) You sound like you had a great time - great idea! :)

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  18. We go to my mom's every Christmas Eve to open gifts, eat, and visit with just our immediate family! It's great!

    I bet that was so fun for them and boy is you ride full!!

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  19. We spend it at a good friends house - dinner, read Luke 2, had a visit from Santa, and watched a short video on the birth of Jesus, and most importantly helped a friend get her husband home for Christmas morning.
    That made me smile!

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  20. What an amazing time! We always drove around looking at lights when I was younger. This year I just didn't have it in me ;)

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  21. how fun!

    we spend the night at my mom's house, cuz that's where Santa stops. It's great for my parents to be Santa still... they're much better at it than we'd be for the boys. (and I still love being 35 and never waking up anywhere but with my family, in the house I grew up in)

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  22. We didn't do much of anything Christmas eve - I was a bit under the weather. But when we were little we would go out every year without fail to drive around and look at lights! It was one of our most fun family traditions - I think the addition of ice cream would have been one of the few things that could have made it more fun. Brilliant idea!

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  23. What a cool idea! I love it.

    We don't do the whole Santa bit either, so you're not alone. ;)

    Your Christmas Eve sounds like it was WONDERFUL..and your van sounds so very FULL. ;) I'm sure you love it that way. =)

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  24. What a great idea Brittany! I love the picture of your entire crew piled into the back of your van!!

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  25. What wonderful ideas!!! I'm gonna have to try some of those:)

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  26. This was the first year in a long time that we actually went somewhere on Christmas Eve we normally don't. But we went to my mom's and came back that same day. SO glad to hear I'm not the only one in the blogosphere that doesn't do santa.

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  27. Sounds like such a nice time!! I am glad that y'all had a great Christmas!!!

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  28. That sounds like such an awesome idea! =)

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  29. Wow, and I have been wondering what the seating arrangement in my Odyssey will be like with three car seats!

    We always let the kids open one present on Christmas eve and we always have a feast of Alaskan King Crab legs. We try to get the boys to bed as early as possible so "santa" can get to work assembling all the toys and finding the right batteries :)

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  30. ahhhh.... so much fun:) We always go to our family friends house and eat dinner and do poppers... where there is a crown, a toy and a joke in it:) and then we sit around the dinner table and eat and read our jokes and the whole time we have our crowns on:) christmas time is the best:)

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  31. this looks and sounds like great fun! way to be clever mom of so many!

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  32. Oooh, the ice cream is a nice touch...I'll have to add that to OUR annual Pajama Drive ritual!

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  33. That sounds SO LOVELY! We were snowed in, er, slushed in, and read the book of Luke together and ate salmon. It was a beautiful quiet evening.

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  34. That sounds like such a fun time! What a great way to keep the kids on their toes and get them to eat their soup!

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  35. Why don't a lot of you do Santa?

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  36. that is beautiful! I love that back of the van shot. Have a great day.

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Thank you for blessing me with your words!

Brittany