Christmas Eve 2010

Our Christmas preparations this year have been a little haphazard: our nightly devotions never really happened, the kiddos had to decorate the tree themselves, and I never finished their new Advent calendar. At least the kiddos had my Advent calendar, their countdown chain, and their 2 Nativity playsets. And the sugar cookies and gingerbread cut-outs are done, so there's been no complaining!
Given how different the rest of our Advent had been, we weren't too worried about changing up Christmas Eve. We don't usually give extravagant gifts to our children -- we've always told them "If 3 presents is just right for Baby Jesus, then it's just right for you" -- but this happened to be the year that we had a big one for each of them. So they'll do stockings and some little things tomorrow like books and jammies, but for tonight, we set up a treasure hunt after church. I figured I'd better record it here for posterity, in case this is the one Christmas they remember.

After church, they put on their jammies and received Clue #1: "If you wanted to play Wii, you'd probably find me." This sent them to the Wii drawer in the living room where Bug found a little suitcase I made out of a lunch box and Mugger found a water bottle.

In Bug's bag was Clue #2: "Number 2 really rocks, so look by your blocks." This had them off to the basement and searching in the box of Legos where Mugger found some bike gloves and Bug found some doll clothes and accessories -- which at this point she thought were for her dolls upstairs.

This time Clue #3 was in Mugger's bag" "If it was time for your bedtime drink, you'd find Number 3, I think." This sent them back upstairs, where Bug figured out that 2 gift bags could really only fit under the sink. In their bags, Mugger found a bottle cage for his water bottle and Bug found more doll clothes, a set of jammies (complete with bunny slippers) and a fairy outfit (complete with wings.)

Clue #4, the final clue, was in Bug's bag: "It may be cold, but in Papa's ride Is where big presents like to hide." After getting on coats and boots, we all traipsed out to Papa's Jeep to find their presents in the dark. Mugger spotted his new bike almost right away, and we took Bug into the light to meet her new doll. While Mugger was busy trying to pedal around in his jammies, Bug was exclaiming over her doll: "She's just the doll I asked Santa for!" She also promptly named her new sweetie Emily Sarah and made a special place for her in her bed.
So Christmas this year may not have been all that I envisioned, but judging by the happy kiddos snug in their beds, it's certainly one of our best ones. Mugger can't wait to bike ride with Papa and Bug can't wait to make lots of happy memories with her new doll.