He normally makes enchiladas and tacos, with a side of rice and beans. Each year he tweaks it a bit. This year he tried homemade enchilada sauce which was really good. He also included an authentic Mexican drink, but the aftertaste reminded me of chili powder so I wasn't a big fan. Next year we have decided we want to make homemade tamales.
My beautiful family eating the wonderful dinner.
After dinner Ashley wanted to write her note for Santa to leave with his treat and glass of milk. She asked me to write Santa's name on the note and draw a reindeer. If you look closely enough on some of the pictures, you can see how awful my reindeer actually is!!
Madison wanted to get in on the action.....so she made a note for Santa too.
Now that Ashley is old enough to understand traditions, etc. we thought we would start the pajama tradition. They each got to open a present on Christmas Eve and it was a new set of pajamas (or at least new to them since I got each pair at the used kids clothing store Kid to Kid....I love that place). After opening their pajamas we gave them each a bath and then put the pajamas on them. We tried taking a picture of all three, but couldn't get them all to look at the same time. What can you expect with three small children. Red was the theme this year for the pajamas. When Ashley saw Madison open her pajamas which were silky, and then compared them to her own, she asked if she could wear Madison's! Next year I'll try to match all three pairs of pajamas so we don't have this problem again!
After the girls strutted around in their new PJ's, Ashley sat down to listen to the Night Before Christmas read by her Grandpa and Nana Brown. The book they bought allowed them to record their voices as they read it. She would listen to one page read by Nana and the next page by Grandpa. I think she listened to them read this book about fifty times over the few days before Christmas. It is something my girls will be able to pull out each year and hear their Grandpa and Nana's voice.
The final activity of the evening was having Chris read Luke 2 from the Bible. Ashley said she wanted to be Mary and grabbed this blanket to put on her head. Chris and I couldn't help but giggle. She has really come to understand who Jesus is and that he loves her. We have a picture of Him in our room and she will look up at the picture and say, "Mommy, Jesus loves me." It melts my heart each time she says it.
As she was settling down for bed, Ashley saw me making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. This is a tradition my family has done for years. She helped me roll out the dough.
Before she could go to bed, Ashley wanted to leave her note for Santa with a glass of milk and pumpkin roll. Yes, pumpkin roll not cookies. Pumpkin rolls are wonderful treats my mother-in-law has made for years and I made a few this year. That is what she wanted to leave for Santa, and trust me, Santa was much happier about eating the pumpkin roll than a cookie!
I had to take a picture of the note Santa left Ashley.
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