Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent, in part, visiting my StepMom's family. We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone, especially since we don't get to see most of them very much. Santa also showed up for his traditional visit and spent time with each of the little ones. Don't let these pictures fool you, though...even though each of the kids sat on Santa's lap (willingly, for the most part) we weren't so lucky on other occasions. For example, the most memorable experience we had this year with Santa was actually NOT when they all sat on his lap happily, but the opposite! We were visiting Danny's family and were able to go to their Church Christmas Party, where Danny's Dad has always played Santa. We had a nice dinner and then Santa arrived! The kids' eyes sparkled and they excitedly cheered "It's Santa!!" We were in the back of the room, but Shae still yelled, as if he could hear, "HI SANTA!!" then turned to me and said, "It's Santa Momma!!" They were absolutely thrilled! When we reached Santa, Cooper happily hopped up on his lap and asked him for candy and a new sword. (He was oblivious to the fact that he was sitting on his Grandpa's lap!) However, we weren't so lucky with Jadan and Shae...Her excitement instantly vanished as Shae turned from Santa and clung to me, climbing up me as if to escape, as Jadan hid behind my legs. They were terrified!! No other child in the entire party was frightened of Santa, but his own grandchildren!!! We all had a good laugh at the irony...

Here, on Christmas Eve, we had a little more success...