Christmas Eve 2012

Willa (3 yrs) , Louis (5 months), Aloysius (2 yrs.)

Willa made sure to remember the milk and cookies for Santa

Kids inspecting the cookies when we returned from 7pm Christmas Eve mass

Grandpa and Grandma Next Door joined us for the fun

Grandpa read the The Story of Christmas

Willa was very excited about her new outfit with a skirt- see later pics

Aloysius showing excitement over his new shoes

Aloysius received some cows and wanted a pic taken of one

Willa also loved her new shoes

Matt and his new hat

Aloysius with Grandpa and his new barn

Willa and her "American Girl" doll Bella from  Roosevelt Island in NY

Next morning with new fav toys from Santa on way to next party

Christmas was once again, truly special and filled with wonderful memories.  Louis celebrated his 1st Christmas, which always seems to come with some special magic.  Our highlight this year was Christmas Eve... we got to celebrate it with possibly a new tradition.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day at home- we had surprise visitors, our friends, Josh and Jackie Paulson and their kids stopped by for lunch and a visit on their drive through Iowa.  It was the night that we really enjoyed though and was very special to us.  We had a steak dinner at home with just us and my sister, Ashley joined us.  Then it was off to 7:00 pm mass at Menominee.  It was beautiful and the kids were just so alive; its like they knew that this was an extra special evening church celebration. Then.... when we arrived home SANTA CLAUS had already made his visit!  We were shocked.  The pictures above captured the highlights.  It was extra special to have Grandpa and Grandma Next Door be able to join in on the fun of Santa Claus and Christmas Eve.